Britney Spears rushed to hospital amid new suicide fears

Britney Spears has been taken to a Los Angeles hospital by ambulance to be put under psychiatric care for the second time this month.

She was taken to UCLA Medical Centre just after 1am after a carefully staged intervention, with sources saying she was not resistant.

Police and ambulance services descended on her LA home last night amid ongoing fears the troubled pop star might kill herself.

It appears the operation had been in planning for a number of days and vehicles were blocked from following the same route as the emergency services convoy.



Britney's mother, Lynne, who reunited with her daughter earlier this week after months of estrangement, best friend Alli Sims and “manager” Sam Lutfi were all at the property when police and ambulance arrived.

The hospitalisation came after Britney's psychiatrist visited the star and recommended she be temporarily committed on the basis she poses a danger to herself and to others, according to reports.

Britney, who is being treated for bipolar disorder, had not slept in days was seen driving blindly around in a new Mercedes saloon two days before the intervention.

At one point, she became lost and asked a photographer for directions using an English accent.

Her psychiatrist is said to have ruled she should be treated under a 5150 hold, the same order that led to her being forcibly taken from her house on a stretcher earlier this month after a three-hour stand-off with police during which she locked herself in the bathroom with one of her sons.

Her visitation rights were stripped following the incident.

Under California law, a 5150 order allows a patient to be hospitalised against their will for up to 72 hours.

Lynne, who followed the convoy to hospital in her car along with Britney's boyfriend Adnan Ghalib, flew into Los Angeles from her home in Louisiana on Monday, where she reunited with her daughter after an ongoing rift.

The pair have been estranged since last summer, when they reportedly fell out over Britney's children.



Sources say Britney went to hospital willing, but earlier this month, she allegedly threatened to commit suicide if she is forced into psychiatric care.

She reportedly told a friend: "They're not sending me to the nut house! No one can make me go - and I'm not going.

"I'll kill myself before I let them lock me up again. So tell Mama and Daddy I said so. Oh my God, it's over for me."

Britney has been in a highly public downward spiral since filing for divorce from Federline in November 2006.

Her bizarre antics include shaving her head bald, attacking a car with an umbrella and bringing along a paparazzo pal on trips to a courthouse in her child custody case.