Britney 'to stay in hospital for another two weeks'

Britney Spears will remain in a hospital psychiatric ward for an additional 14 days, sources close to the star said tonight.

Spears was to be released from UCLA Medical Centre’s psychiatric hospital today, but doctors and a medical officer at the ward determined that she should remain, the source said.

In extending Spears' stay, hospital staff members cited a section in the California legal code that allows patients to be retained for medical treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others, the person said.

Court Commissioner Reva Goetz ruled the day after Spears was taken to hospital - and following a year of increasingly bizarre public behaviour – that someone should take over the singer’s personal and financial affairs.

She named Spears’ father, James Spears, as his daughter’s conservator and made Spears’ father and attorney Andrew Wallet conservators of the pop star’s estate. Goetz granted the conservator access to all Spears’ medical records, as well as the right to restrict her visitors and to provide her with around-the-clock security.

A court creates a conservatorship when it concludes a person no longer can care for themselves or their personal and financial affairs. Goetz also issued a restraining order, keeping Sam Lutfi, the pop star’s friend and sometime manager, away from her.

She ordered a hearing tomorrow to review the matter.