Incident

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Incident

Britney Spears rushed to hospital

31 January 2008 16:49 (UTC +04:00)

Spears was whisked to the UCLA Medical Center at about 1:30 am (0930 GMT) and was to be placed on a 5150 hold, the 72-hour confinement of a person deemed a danger to themselves or others, according to celebrity gossip website TMZ.com.
A psychiatrist treating the singer contacted Los Angeles police to set the events in motion, TMZ said, citing "law enforcement sources."
Dozens of police officers on motorcycles escorted the ambulance carrying the 26-year-old singer, and a police helicopter hovered overhead, according to a Los Angeles Times account.
The operation appeared to have been "carefully planned over a period of time," the Times said. A motorcade the length of a football field escorted the pop star and kept photographers and onlookers at bay.
Reporters camped out all night outside Spearsâ€™s gated home, and news helicopters hovered overhead. News photographers and paparazzi lined the streets.
Authorities entered the hilltop home shortly after 1 am and were inside for about ten minutes before they spirited Spears away through a side entrance, a Los Angeles Times reporter told CNN.
"We know that her psychiatrist did call the Los Angeles police to her home late Wednesday," reporter Andrew Blankstein said. "We donâ€™t know exactly what prompted that call."
Spears was told of her impending confinement by her psychiatrist and did not resist when paramedics arrived and placed her on a gurney, TMZ said.
The psychiatrist told police of concerns about her reckless driving and erratic behavior, the website said.
Spears had not slept since Saturday, it said.
Trailing the ambulance was another car carrying the starâ€™s mother, Lynne Spears and her boyfriend, photographer Adnan Ghalib, US media reported.
The troubled singer was stripped of access to her two young sons at the beginning of the month after another hospital drama.
During that incident Spears was wheeled out of her home on a stretcher following a stand-off which began when she reportedly refused to release her two children, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, to ex-husband Kevin Federlineâ€™s bodyguard.
Spears was taken to the Cedars Sinai Medical Center for mental evaluation before she discharged herself two days later.
The exact reasons for Spearsâ€™ admission to hospital have not been revealed.
Spears, one of the most successful pop stars of her generation, has been locked in the custody feud with Federline since the couple separated in 2006.
A judge limited the pop starâ€™s access to her children in October after she failed to submit to random drug testing as demanded at an earlier hearing where the court ruled Spears was a "habitual and continuous drug user."
Her latest attempt to regain visitation rights to her two sons was rejected last week after she failed to appear for a Los Angeles court hearing, officials said. /APA/