Report: UCLA Firing Hospital Workers for Snooping on Britney

Originally posted Friday March 14, 2008 07:00 PM EDT

UCLA Medical Center will be firing at least 13 employees and is disciplining others, including physicians, for looking at Britney Spears's medical files, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Spears, 26, was involuntary hospitalized at the campus's psych ward for one week beginning Jan. 31, after her doctor made the request.

But the records reviewed by those who are targeted for dismissal were from previous hospitalizations at UCLA, the Times reports. The dates and purposes of those hospitalizations weren't known.

UCLA officials declined to comment on the reported firings, but said in a statement: "UCLA Health System considers patient confidentiality a critical part of our mission of teaching, research and patient care. ... We have stringent policies to protect patient confidentiality and address violations of those policies."