LOS ANGELES – UCLA Medical Center will fire some employees and discipline others for snooping at the confidential medical records of Britney Spears while she was hospitalized in its psychiatric ward, a hospital official told The Associated Press.
Jeri Simpson, the hospital's director of human resources who was involved in the investigations of the confidentiality breach, confirmed the action but could not say how many employees were affected.
The Los Angeles Times reported on its Website Friday that more than 13 employees were facing firing and another six will be disciplined. The paper said a half dozen doctors are also facing disciplinary action for looking at her computerized records.
Spears was admitted to the hospital twice in January under a state law allowing patients to be held against their will for up to 72 hours for evaluation if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. Spears' hold was extended on her second trip to UCLA, where she stayed for nearly a week.
Leading up to the hospitalizations, Spears had been in a downward spiral of bizarre behavior. She shaved her head, was seen in public without underwear, ran over a celebrity photographer's foot and attacked a vehicle with an umbrella.
After her Feb. 6 release, a judge placed Spears and her estate under a temporary conservatorship. Conservatorships are granted for people deemed unable to take care of themselves or their affairs.
Spears has since had very limited contact with her toddler sons who are under the sole physical and legal custody of her ex-husband Kevin Federline.
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