(Newser)
– Dr. Payman Simoni lip-filled a patient last month who called a few days later to reveal that she tested positive for the coronavirus – and on Friday, the 50-year-old plastic surgeon died of COVID-19. The Beverly Hills doctor, who appeared on the reality show The doctors and was well known in Hollywood, he was tested on December 6 after being informed about his patient, who had his temperature checked and completed a COVID questionnaire before his procedure. He was positive for the virus, but was “perfectly fine” for about a week, family and friends tell CBS 2. “Yes, he wore a mask all the time,” said a family friend. “He was a doctor. And he took all the protocols.”
However, TMZ sources say that, despite his mask, the patient was not wearing one, and she allegedly coughed and “sprayed” him at some point during the procedure. In mid-December, he began to experience shortness of breath and was soon on a respirator at a Los Angeles hospital, where he was later put into an induced coma and died of cerebral hemorrhage. “The shock is that he was perfectly healthy,” said a family friend about the father of two. “He’s a doctor, I called him when I had COVID. He was instructing me on what to do. ” People notes that the CDC suspended elective procedures at the beginning of the pandemic, but has since allowed them again. O Beverly Press notes that Beverly Hills was one of the first cities in the US to resume non-essential procedures. (Read more coronavirus stories.)