Dr. Phil Being Investigated After Britney Debacle

On Wednesday, TMZ.com reported that they have a copy of a complaint sent to the Psychological Board accusing Dr. Phil of practicing without a license. According to the complaint submitted by another psychologist, Dr. Phil is not licensed in the state of California, therefore his uninvited visit to Britney Spears on January 5, constitutes practicing without a license.

Where was the good doc's head?

It is not surprising that a person involving himself with Britney Spears would receive bad press. It is surprising that Dr. Phil would make such a faux pas. The doctor claims that he visited the POP Train Wreck in her hospital room by invitation of her family. Not long after that visit, reports started popping up all over cyberspace that Britney was unpleasantly surprised by the visit. In fact, she was so unpleasantly surprised that she walked out of the room when Dr. Phil arrived.

After the hospital room visit, Dr. Phil walked, or followed - depending on the article you read - Britney to her car, possibly spouting off about the positive affects of her allowing him to do a one-hour show about her. His production team was already setting up interviews and the date was already set for Tuesday, January 8, 2008. Me thinks the gentleman doth presume too much.

Case in point, Dr. Phil made comments about Britney Spears in a press release that outraged her family. They charged that Dr. Phil crossed the line of doctor/patient privilege by making any statement at all. Dr. Phil promptly scrapped the Tuesday one-hour Britney show.

Maybe, the good doctor had his head too far up his wallet to be able to see the folly of his ways.

Dr. Phil is not licensed in either the state of California or the state of Texas?

According to the complaint filed with the Psychology Board, Dr. Phil, in fact, is not licensed in either California or Texas. He was never licensed in California, and he retired his license in Texas.

What does this mean for the doctor and his show titled "Dr. Phil?" According to the complaint, since Phil McGraw (a.k.a. Dr. Phil) does not have a license to practice psychology, he does not have the right to place the designation Dr. before his name. The complaint goes on to state that a petition is being circulated through the media to have the "Dr. Phil" show taken off the air.

That might be going a bit far, but some might say that Dr. Phil went too far when he walked into Britney Spears' hospital room.

What's the moral of the story?

Number 1: Nothing good can come from one involving oneself with Britney Spears. It is sad, but at this point, Britney is too far gone to accept help. She will probably need to hit rock bottom before she gets to a place where she will accept help.

Number 2: One would think that Dr. Phil has been in the lime light long enough to have known better. As a doctor of psychology (one that so many TV viewers adore and possibly worship), one would think he would have been able to anticipate Britney's negative reaction and the reaction of the media. His lack of foresight makes it easy to speculate that doing a good deed was not his one and only true motive.