Britney's Suicidal Tendencies?

Britney Spears is having second thoughts about death.

The Oops! girl has decided to scrap a scene in the "Everytime" music video that would have shown her drowning in a bathtub with a bottle of pills by her side, fearing the clip might have come across as a suicide rather than the accidental death she intended.

"Britney Spears was uncomfortable with these treatments," says a statement from the singer's label, Jive Records. "She does not endorse [suicide] as a solution to any individual and fully recognizes that people who go to this length need assistance and advice and should contact their local suicide prevention organization."

The script for the video, first obtained by MTV News, purportedly took its inspiration from Nicolas Cage's Oscar-winning alcohol-fueled meltdown in Leaving Las Vegas and was to be directed by David LaChapelle.

In the original version, Spears and her boyfriend turn up at a Sin City hotel and are mobbed by paparazzi. After retreating to a high-roller suite, the blonde vixen offers her lover some wine, only to have him smash the bottle at her feet.

Spears then retreats into the bathroom. The video then juxtaposes shots of a bottle of pills, an overflowing bathtub and Britney's head underwater.

The boyfriend comes into the room, discovers the superstar's unconscious body and attempts to revive her. The clip then cuts to a shot of Spears walking out of the hotel alone, going past the paparazzi without them giving her a second thought. Apparently the video leaves it up to the audience to decide whether Spears is alive or if they're just seeing her ghost.

The idea for the video was to satirize the rumors swirling around Spears, including tabloid reports claiming she's seeking therapy for excessive drinking and a troubled love life, and to mock her spontaneous Vegas wedding with childhood pal Jason Alexander--a union annulled after just 55 hours.

In any case, the notion of Spears exhibiting any suicidal tendencies to sell records didn't go over well with suicide prevention groups, who fear it could unduly influence some impressionable teens to take their own lives.

"Death glamorized for kids who are depressed is certainly not something that would help anyone," said Linda Lebelle, director of Focus Adolescence Services, a suicide prevention organization. "So many of the entertainers do whatever sells, whatever the shock value, to get people to watch. But any family that has ever experienced a suicide and accidental overdose...it devastates the family forever."

In the lyrics for "Everytime," Spears asks for forgiveness from her boyfriend, a common theme for troubled kids, according to Lebelle.

"One of the main reasons teens do attempt suicide is because of a breakup and that should never be glamorized," said Lebelle.

Some Britney fans weren't exactly thrilled with the scene either.

"Leave it to Britney to exploit suicide," wrote 24-year-old Fey of Beverly Hills in a letter to MTV News. "I lost a brother to suicide and am disgusted with her. Killing yourself is not glamorous, it won't set you free, and it will destroy everyone who loves you."

The "Everytime" video was supposed to be the follow-up to the number one single "Toxic" off Spears' In the Zone, which has sold more than 5 million copies.

Spears' sexually explicit clip for "Toxic" also become a lightning rod for criticism, with MTV relegating the video to the late-night slots in the days immediately following Janet Jackson's boob stunt. MTV has since reinstated the video into the daytime rotation.

As for the "Everytime" clip, there's no word whether it will retain elements from the original treatment or whether the story will be completely changed.

The pop princess reportedly took three days off this week from her Onyx Hotel Tour now crisscrossing the country to shoot the video. She's expected to resume her trek tonight in Denver.