Med center employees snooped in Spears’ files

Los Angeles – UCLA Medical Center will fire some employees and discipline others for snooping in the confidential medical records of Britney Spears, who was hospitalized in its psychiatric ward, a hospital official said.

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 hospital did not say when the snooping took place or which of Spears records were looked at.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the breaches occurred during Spears’ most recent hospital stay. While the disciplined employees were unable to access her psychiatric records, they did look at non-psychiatric records from her previous visits to the medical center, the Times reported.

The Times said more than 13 employees, none of whom are doctors, would be fired. Twelve others, including several doctors, will be disciplined for looking at her computerized records, it reported.