Plastic Surgeon Dies of COVID After Lip Filler Patient Tests Positive

Though it hasn't been confirmed that's how Dr. Payman Simoni contracted coronavirus
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 19, 2021 4:20 AM CST
Plastic Surgeon Dies After Treating Patient With COVID
In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo, registered nurses Robin Gooding, left, and Johanna Ortiz treat a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Dr. Payman Simoni gave lip fillers to a patient last month who called a few days later to reveal she'd tested positive for the coronavirus—and on Friday, the 50-year-old plastic surgeon died of COVID-19. The Beverly Hills doctor, who had appeared on the reality show The Doctors and was well-known in Hollywood, got tested on Dec. 6 after being informed about his patient, who'd had her temperature checked and filled out a COVID questionnaire prior to her procedure. He was positive for the virus, but was "perfectly fine" for about a week, family and friends tell CBS 2. "Yes, he was wearing a mask at all times,” a family friend says. “He was a physician. And he took all the protocols."

However, TMZ's sources say that despite his mask, the patient wasn't wearing one, and she allegedly coughed and "sprayed" him at some point during the procedure. In mid-December he started experiencing shortness of breath, and soon was on a ventilator at a Los Angeles hospital, where he was later placed in a medically induced coma and ultimately died of a brain hemorrhage. "The shock is that he was so perfectly healthy,” the family friend says of the father of two. "He’s a doctor, I called him when I had COVID. He was instructing me what to do." People notes that the CDC halted elective procedures at the beginning of the pandemic, but has since allowed them again. The Beverly Press notes Beverly Hills was among the first cities in the US to resume non-essential procedures. (More coronavirus stories.)

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