Another cautionary tale related to COVID-19: Beverly Hills, CA plastic surgeon Payman Simoni, MD has died from COVID-19, and as reported on by TMZ, he appears to have contracted the coronavirus from a patient who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
The patient had her temperature checked and filled out a questionnaire, but was not tested for the virus. As Dr. Simoni was administering the patient’s lip injections and she was without a mask, according to the doctor’s family, the woman coughed in his face. Although he had a mask on, “she sprayed on him,” TMZ reports, and then “contacted the office a few days later to inform them she had tested positive for COVID.”
After experiencing symptoms like shortness of breath during his quarantine, Dr. Simoni was put on a ventilator at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA, and eventually placed in a medically induced coma before passing away from a brain hemorrhage on Friday at the age of 50.
“This is a real story. Although I didn’t know Dr Simoni, his tragic death is a warning for all. And he is not the only doctor who has died from COVID,” says Nanuet, NY dermatologist Heidi Waldorf, MD, in an Instagram post. “Doctors, nurses and others in healthcare: Please continue to follow strict covid precautions at work and out. Wear N95 or KN95 masks plus shields when performing procedures on patients, particularly on the face when the patient is maskless. Don’t let your guard down with patients or each other. You are at high risk. To our patients: Please be patient with our safety protocols. Understand that we want to be able to continue to treat you, and we rely on you to be honest with us during your COVID screenings about any potential exposure you or a contact may have had (that’s maskless contact with someone outside your household). Our lives are in your hands. Finally, taking cocktails of vitamins and antioxidants is not a guarantee against COVID. Googling Dr Simoni, I found an advertisement for ‘Simoni Super Immune Boost IV Therapy’ touted as ‘Anti-Coronavirus Immunity Boosting Therapy.’ Sadly, it did not protect him from contracting and succumbing to the virus.”
