I’m tired and feeling a bit sick, but what I’m reading about Britney Spears tonight is making me sicker. When she was readmitted to the hospital under the care of a responsible psychiatrist and her father named conservator, I was glad, because I felt like there was the possibility that she would get the care she so desperately needs. Today, she was released from the hospital.
Why? And more importantly, how? Britney’s dad is her conservator. What is stopping him from barring her release from the hospital? Isn’t that the point of a conservatorship? Her parents’ statement confuses me more:
“We are deeply concerned about our daughter’s safety and vulnerability and we believe her life is presently at risk. There are conservatorship orders in place created to protect our daughter that are being blatantly disregarded. We ask only that the court’s orders be enforced so that a tragedy may be averted.”
I’ve been critical in the past of the passive and somewhat enabling role I viewed her parents as taking, even though I knew that without legal permission, there was little they could do. However, they’ve gone to court and obtained restraining orders, only to see them ignored. How can this be?
Further complicating things, there is the matter of Sam Lufti, her current manager/Svengali, who claims that HE is looking out for her interests. Her parents clearly disagree, and reading the narrative in their request for a restraining order and then his reply in an interview with Us Magazine leaves me wondering exactly whose interests are being considered here. From Lynne Spears’ declaration:
Sam told Jackie and me that he grinds up Britney’s pills, which were on the counter and included Risperdol and Seroquel. He told us that he puts them in her food that that was the reason she had been quiet for the last three days (she had been sleeping.) He told us that the doctor who is treating her now is trying to get her into a sleep-induced coma so that they could then give her drugs to heal her brain.
and this:
Britney then said again at some point during the night, “When do I get to see my babies?” Sam answered, “Wednesday. “ Britney then said, “What do I have to do to see them?” Sam responded, “Take the pills I tell you to take.” Britney said, “I don’t like the pills and I don’t like the psychiatrist. Can’t I see another psychiatrist so I can see my babies?” Sam responded, “If I told you to take 10 pills a day, you should do what I tell you to see your babies.” Jackie then said, “Britney, your parents can help you find a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist needs to get to know you to give you the right medicine.” Sam then raised his voice and said, “Why don’t you get back with Kevin.”
From Sam Lutfi’s interview, there’s this:
“In the depressive episodes, it’s all crying,” Lutfi tells Us. “But in the manic episode, there’s very little crying or sympathy or compassion. She becomes another person. She becomes somebody that just doesn’t care about anybody or anything.”
“The British accent is part of the mania,” he adds. “She’ll stick to the British accent because she becomes comfortable with it… But you know, when the pink wig comes on, it’s getting bad.”
US Magazine also claims as fact that she does suffer from bipolar disorder, something I speculated on last year. But Lufti claims that he has knowledge of what ‘brought it on’. As I understand it (and please, folks with bipolar disorder, correct me or add to the discussion around this), bipolar disorder is , like ADHD, a neurobiological condition that is not the product of a traumatic event, though drugs and alcohol abuse can exacerbate the symptoms. So for Lufti to claim that he ‘knows what caused it’ seems like an opportunistic slap at her family more than anything else.
Here’s another Lufti comment worth noting:
Lutfi tells Us that he gave Britney “a handful of pills” before her parents arrived. “I said these pills are working wonders, they are miracle pills,” he recalls. Spears, Lutfi says, agreed that the meds were helping her sleep.
This is all very confusing. Clearly Lutfi is a bombastic bully who wants to control Britney Spears. At the same time, it seems clear that she does need meds and clearer still that she will not take them without someone to make her do it, just like she won’t stay in the hospital long enough for her psychiatrist to help get her condition stable and on the right track.
After hearing the news of Heath Ledger’s cause of death today, the Britney story seems all the more tragic. Heath Ledger had too many similar medications in his system — powerful medications — which combined to simply stop him from breathing. No suicidal intentions, just too many drugs.
Then you have Britney Spears, who clearly needs some sort of medication regimen, yet all responsible efforts toward making that happen seem to be hampered and blocked by a control-freak manager who is irresponsibly administering sedatives to her while her parents stand idly by waiting for help getting any kind of enforcement on their restraining and conservatorship orders. At the same time, Lynne Spears makes comments that concern me as well, such as the one I quoted above. The reason it concerns me is because she seems very anti-medication at all, which is surely as irresponsible as Lufti’s “grind-’em-up-and-put-her-to-sleep” technique.
The very public struggle for Britney Spears’ life and mental health exposes some real holes in our health care system, particularly in the area of mental health. How can it be that the court has appointed a conservator to oversee her affairs and well-being, only for her to be released in the middle of a two-week hold in what is clearly an agitated and unstable condition? The only way I can see it is if she signed herself out, which I would think a conservatorship would prevent. Did the hospital have a copy of the order? According to this article, maybe not.
As conservator, her father will have the power to “restrict visitors,” have around-the-clock security for Spears and have access to all medical records, Goetz said. It was unclear whether the court gave her father the power to make medical decisions on Spears’ behalf; even if that was granted, the role can be limited.
Conservators can consult with doctors on medication options, but the patient can refuse. Only in emergencies can someone be forcefully treated. Otherwise, a court hearing must be scheduled to hammer out the issue.
“Being a conservator does not give them the power to force medication,” said Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Mental Health.
It would appear that while her father has the power to restrain Lutfi, he cannot force Britney to remain in the hospital or under doctor’s care. Nor can he force her to comply with doctor’s orders. That is a good thing in general, but I don’t think it is for Britney Spears right now. She is clearly incapable of making rational decisions, and is surrounding herself with people who don’t appear to care about her well-being as much as they do their own control base.
As a parent, it’s hard for me to imagine how I’d feel if I had to stand idly by and watch my adult child hurtle down the path to destruction or death, yet that seems to be what is happening here. While Britney Spears must be the most public example of this, I believe there are parents who are dealing with situations similar to hers, and even worse, without the ability to help their adult child overcome the disabling aspects of their mental illness. My heart and prayers go out to them, and the Spears family.
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