According to People Magazine, Britney Spears’ is in a “terrible situation,” locked down in a padded room at the UCLA Medical Center. The singer officially had her 72-hour stay extended to 14 days (presumably at the request of her psychiatrist), and faces a grim future ahead of her.
According to the patient’s bill of rights at the hospital, she is allowed to wear her own clothes and keep her own personal possessions, including toiletries. She may also see visitors every day and make and receive phone calls – but not on her personal cell phone. There are pay phones on the floor.
There are two wings at the hospital, separated by a kitchen/dining room. Patients sometimes mix, especially for smoke breaks out on the deck, which is gated and surrounded by a metal fence.
The average patient sees his or her attending doctor every day. Since UCLA is a teaching hospital, the attending doctors are often accompanied by students. Staffers check on patients at least once an hour, even during the night.
Britney is a patient at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, known as one of the top facilities of its kind.
“It is a terrible situation,” says a source close to the Spears family. “Britney is in a padded room. Her family is so worried about her.”
Terry K. Wasserman, a veteran L.A. attorney specializing in mental health cases (who’s not involved in the Spears matter), explains that if a patient becomes combative, he or she “could be placed in a ‘quiet room,’ some of which are padded.”
Wasserman adds: “Another possibility is being confined to a bed by leather restraints. In extreme, life-threatening situations – when the patient is a threat to oneself or medical staff – a psychiatrist can inject a person with psychotropic medication.”
In addition, Wasserman says, “a doctor can force a patient to take prescribed medication. If he or she resists taking the meds, the psychiatrist can obtain authorization to forcefully medicate the person – but only after a hearing on the matter takes place.”
This shit is so straight-up Francis Farmer.
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February 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am
My sweet baby Jesus. When you said ‘padded room’, I didn’t think you really meant she was IN one.
Am I the only one on the express train to hell thinking this shit is even frikkin better than last years loony head shaving/umbrella incident?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:16 am
No, NOT Frances (with an “e”) Farmer. Farmer had real talent and a vast intellect and was kept inside by her parents in an era that genuinely non-insane were treated as untouchables. For example, homosexuality was regarded on the same level as schizophrenia back then. BS, on the other hand, is a no-talent, brainless, washed up attentionwhore, much like the fictional Baby Jane Hudson.
In short, please do not impugn my dear Frances by likening her unto this sh!theap.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Good, I hope they’ve got her in a straight jacket and everything. She needs SOMETHING to get her to realize how fucked up she is.
But, I totally agree with Darth Paul about her being a “no-talent, brainless, washed up attention-whore, much like the fictional Baby Jane Hudson.”
Personally, I don’t give a shit about her, but she’s a mother and she needs to be healthy for her boys.