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- A nurse in Florida is taking legal action against her boss who allegedly coughed on her at work while he had coronavirus, WSVN-TV reported.
- Venise Jean-Baptist said that she could not wear personal protection equipment at work. “We didn’t have N95 masks,” Jean-Baptist told WSVN. “The masks that we did have, they wouldn’t allow us to wear for every single patient.”
- Jean-Baptist told WSVN that after proposing to her boss,Dr. Joseph Piperato, that he should take a COVID-19 test —after he came to work exhibiting symptoms —he coughed on her and said “Now, leave me alone.”
- Jean-Baptist told WPLG-TV that she and her child contracted the virus following the incident.
- Her lawsuit said that her COVID-19 infection has caused her “medical consequences that will last a lifetime.”
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A nurse practitioner in Florida is taking legal action against her boss who she says willfully coughed on her when he had coronavirus in the workplace, local news reported.
Venise Jean-Baptist told local news that her boss, Dr. Joseph Piperato, would not take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 like wearing a facemask at her job located at Project Access Foundation medical office in Miami, Florida, according to WSVN-TV.
“We didn’t have N95 masks,” Jean-Baptist told WSVN. “The masks that we did have, they wouldn’t allow us to wear for every single patient.”
According to the report, Jean-Baptist alleged that after “hounding” her boss about utilizing the facemask and complying with guidelines and proposing that he take a test, Piperato coughed on her while he was infected with COVID-19.
“He just went ‘Ahhh,’ and he said, ‘Well, if I have it, now you have it, too. Now, leave me alone,'” she told the news station.
WSVN reported that Jean-Baptist said Piperato went to work while exhibiting symptoms, which prompted Jean-Baptist to ask him to take the test.
Jean-Baptist told WPLG-TV that she and her child caught the virus following the incident at her job. According to the outlet, she hired a lawyer, filed a lawsuit against her boss, and claimed that the office she worked for did not provide personal protective equipment during the pandemic.
According to the Miami Herald, the lawsuit shows that Jean-Baptist said she was refused the use of facemask and was not allowed to use COVID-19 test kits.
Jean-Baptist "was further told by the Medical Director that the reason why staff would not be permitted to test was because they did not want to shut the office down for two weeks if someone tested positive," the lawsuit stated. "So without testing, there would be no positive test."
Project Access Foundation issued a statement in response to Jean-Baptist's accusations.
"The allegations set forth in the complaint are unfounded and will be aggressively defended. Project Access has at all times undertaken the steps necessary to comply with CDC and State guidelines, protect the public and its patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to strive to protect and serve its local community," a lawyer for the Project Access Foundation along with Dr. Piperato said in a statement, according to The Miami Herald.
According to the lawsuit, Jean-Baptist is asthmatic and COVID-19 caused her to have blood clots and pulmonary emboli, "medical consequences that will last a lifetime."
Jean-Baptist is planning on taking the case to court, WSVN reported.