What Do Nataline Sarkisyan and Britney Spears Have in Common?

Posted by Richard Blair, The All Spin Zone at 7:51 AM on March 15, 2008.

They were both treated (or not, as the case may be) at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Just to refresh everyone’s memory, Nataline Sarkisyan was the young woman who, just before Christmas last year, was denied a liver transplant by her insurance company until it was too late. She died at UCLA Medical Center on the day that the transplant was approved.

And Britney Spears? Just to refresh everyone’s memory…oh…never mind. But she’s also been treated at UCLA Medical Center on various occasions. Britney gave birth there, and has also had a few encounters with staff in the psychiatric wing of the hospital.



The reason I bring up Nataline is that right after she died, I asked a simple question: why in the hell didn’t the hospital just do the transplant, and figure out the financials at a later time? I don’t believe that anyone at UCLA Medical Center was ever held to account for this lack of decision making that led, directly or indirectly, to the young woman’s death.

However, apparently some staff members at UCLA Medical Center were caught peeping in Britney Spears’ medical files - and have been fired for the offense:

UCLA Medical Center is taking steps to fire at least 13 employees and has suspended at least six others for snooping in the confidential medical records of pop star Britney Spears during her recent hospitalization in its psychiatric unit, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

In addition, six physicians face discipline for peeking at her computerized records, the person said…

Listen, I’m the last person in the world who would make excuses for any medical personnel violating the privacy of any patient, celebrity or not, by snooping in patient records for prurient information. Anyone at UCLA Medical Center who wasn’t directly involved in treating Britney had no business prying into her personal records, and should have been fired when the discovery was made. That was the correct call. (Interestingly enough, it appears as if staff were fired, but not doctors. Go figure.)

Without even researching the topic, though, I’m absolutely certain that no one at UCLA Medical Center was disciplined for poor decision making in Nataline’s case. But then, she wasn’t a pop star going off the edge of sanity. She was simply a sick young woman caught up in the healthcare bureaucracy in America. No one was fired; in fact someone, somewhere, probably received a bonus for saving either the insurance company or the hospital money.

Wonderful priorities that we have here in this country, huh?

Tagged as: health care, health insurance, spears, nataline sarkisyan, ucla medical center

Richard Blair is the blogmaster of All Spin Zone.