In January 2008, Dr. Phil McGraw garnered major scrutiny after he met Britney Spears at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and made a statement about their encounter. The pop star had been taken into care after acting “hysterically” in front of her sons and, as Dr. Phil explained on his blog, he paid her a visit “at the request of her parents.” Shortly thereafter, he told Entertainment Tonight (via People), “She needs to be in treatment, she needs to be in in-patient care for a period of time.” Dr. Phil added (via ABC) that it was “dire” Spears receive “both medical and psychological intervention.”
Backlash was swift, with a Spears family spokesperson telling TODAY he “betrayed” their trust. “What’s wrong with Dr. Phil’s statement is that he made a statement.” McGraw eventually said, per ABC, that he didn’t regret the visit, but if he “had it to do over again, I probably wouldn’t make any statement at all.” He also announced, per Reuters, that he’d scrapped the episode he planned to make about Spears. His explanation didn’t stop his medical qualifications from coming under scrutiny, though. As MTV reported, an official complaint was filed with the California Board of Psychology claiming that McGraw violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act by violating doctor-patient confidentiality and practicing without a license. However, the TV personality assured on his blog that he “didn’t go there to counsel her. I went there as a friend and ally of this family.”
