The father of hospitalised actress Natasha Lyonne is taking legal action against the Beth Israel Hospital after an employee leaked information about his daughter's critical condition.

The AMERICAN PIE star is reportedly fighting for her life in the New York City hospital's intensive care unit, after being diagnosed with hepatitis C, a heart infection and a collapsed lung.

According to the New York Daily News, her father Aaron Braunstein is planning to sue the hospital for $180 million (GBP100 million) after an article appeared in the New York Post detailing the 26-year-old actress' medical condition and alleged methadone therapy.

Braunstein says, "They broke the patient-doctor confidentiality rule. It's my child, my little girl. Why would someone do something like that?

"Be sure the hospital is going to be sued. Natasha's basically a very kind, sensitive person. A lot of the stuff you see there is camouflage. It was a persona, her character."