Plastic Surgeon Asked Staff Member To Work, Fake Test Results Amid COVID-19 Bout: Report

A reputed plastic surgeon in New York City was slapped with a lawsuit after he allegedly asked a staff member to continue working and fake her test results while she was down with COVID-19, according to an exclusive report by the New York Post.

Christina Flores, a 33-year-old former office manager at Neinstein Plastic Surgery on the Upper East Side of New York City, filed a lawsuit against Dr. Ryan Nenistein, a registered plastic surgeon and the founder of the said clinic.

Flores tested positive for the virus on Dec. 1, 2020, a month after she joined Nenistein's clinic as a non-surgical Aesthetic Practice Manager.

Neinstein, who has around 40,000 followers on Instagram and a huge clientele, allegedly forced Flores to return to the office, telling her to fake her test results. He asked Flores to use a nasal rinse and virus-killing nose swabs to generate a false-negative COVID-19 test, the lawsuit claimed, as per the outlet.

"I cannot believe he would want me to jeopardize putting not only myself, the staff, but especially the patients at risk by falsifying the COVID test," Flores told the outlet.

Neinstein initially demanded that Flores continue her work from home after she told him about her deteriorating health condition. Flores said she obliged because she was scared of losing her job. However, her employer later began threatening her to come back to the office.

"I had no choice but to abide by his command. Every day was constant calls, texts, and emails. He was relentless and the more I tried to work through it, it just wasn't good enough for him," the outlet quoted Flores as saying.

While Flores' symptoms worsened, Neinstein allegedly continued to put pressure on the staff member, saying she would be replaced at the work. "I understand you're sick, but if you can't do your job I will find someone else," Neinstein reportedly told her in a text message.

As Flores continued to test positive on Dec. 21, Neinstein requested her to follow a test that would generate a false negative result, the lawsuit reportedly claimed. However, Flores did not grant Neinstein's request because another physician at the practice advised her against it.

Flores eventually tested negative on Dec. 25 and returned to work. But Flores said she soon became Neinstein's "target." She also accused him of treating her badly at work. "I felt like it was retaliation because I had time off. But I was working from home. I never took the time off," she said.

Meanwhile, Neinstein's Plastic Surgery has denied all the allegations of discrimination and harassment.

"Neinstein Plastic Surgery, PLLC is an equal opportunity employer. We take allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously," Steve Polyakov, the clinic's lawyer, said in a statement, according to the New York Post. "We deny all of Ms. Flores’s allegations of wrongdoing and look forward to the opportunity to establish a complete and factually accurate account of the underlying events."