Dr. Phil McGraw paid a highly publicized visit to Britney Spears over the weekend as she was being released from Cedars-Sinai hospital. Britney’s parents are said to have set up the intervention, even though she is not under his care.

There’s a bit of he said/she said about what was discussed during his visit. He claims they spoke for an hour before he walked her to her car and he learned a lot about her psychological well-being. Britney’s camp reports she felt ambushed and wanted nothing to do with him, walking out of the room after he’d lectured her for about 15 minutes.

In any event, the real problem here is doctor-patient confidentiality. As a medical professional, he is ethically bound not to discuss her condition, let alone turn it into a publicity stunt.

Of course, this is not the first time Dr. Phil has overstepped the line. He was once put on probation for violating the code of ethics by having a “dual relationship” with a patient, and was required to undergo evaluations and pass examinations on ethics and jurisprudence before he could practice unsupervised again.

She may be the biggest celebrity in America, but when it comes to her mental health, doesn’t she deserve the same privacy as everyone else?