PHIL MCGRAW - DR. PHIL DROPS PLANS FOR BRITNEY SPECIAL

Dr. Phil McGraw, who touched off a round of public controversy over the weekend after he arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to visit Britney Spears, said Monday that he has decided to shelve a planned show about her. In an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Sugar noted that while Spears may have been removed to the hospital involuntarily following a complaint by her former husband, Kevin Federline, "there's a difference between being detained involuntarily for psychological treatment and being forced to endure Dr. Phil involuntarily." In a statement posted on his website Monday, McGraw said that he had canceled the show "because the Spears situation is too intense at this time." He did not explain further. Dr. Richard Harding, professor of neuropsychiatry at the University of South Carolina, welcomed the decision. He told the A.P., "This isn't the time to be exploiting anybody and making examples out of anybody."

08/01/2008