The former director of a Mamaroneck medical practice is suing the doctor’s son for money and healthcare insurance she says were guaranteed for one year after the doctor’s death.
Samantha G. Flynn of Carmel accused Jeffrey Bernstein, the executor of the estate of Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, of breach of contract in a complaint filed on Feb. 16 in Westchester Supreme Court.
Despite years of faithful service to Dr. Bernstein, she claims, his son Jeffrey “has gone against the late doctor’s wishes and deprived Flynn of the remuneration and access to health care that had been promised to her.”
Dr. Bernstein, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 12, ran The Diabetes Center from his home in Mamaroneck, where he taught patients how to use diet and self-testing of blood glucose to manage the disease.
Flynn was hired in 2012 as a housekeeper for Dr. Bernstein and his wife Anne, a psychiatrist, according to the complaint, and was quickly made executive director of the medical practice.
She developed a close bond with the doctor, the complaint states, and he “became something of a surrogate father” to her.
In 2016, Anne Bernstein died.
In 2020, Flynn and Dr. Bernstein, as sole proprietor of The Diabetes Center, signed an employment agreement that was to take effect after he died. She would be paid a $91,000 salary and $50,000 bonus, and receive health insurance. One year after the death her employment would automatically end.
The purpose of the agreement was for Flynn to wind down the medical practice and help prepare the house for sale.
“Doctor trusts that executive will perform any and all duties as necessary to achieve the results which doctor and executive have discussed between themselves,” the contract states.
He “knowingly and deliberately” did not condition compensation and health insurance on performance of any duties, according to the complaint. Even if she performed no duties, she was entitled to compensation and health insurance for one year.
Dr. Bernstein suffered a stroke on March 20, 2025 and died on April 15, 2025. He was 90.
Flynn says she began contacting patients, packing the office and preparing the house for sale. Within weeks, she claims, tensions developed with the doctor’s son and estate executor, Jeffrey Bernstein. He allegedly removed confidential patient records, for example, and she demanded they be returned.
On June 16, nine weeks after Dr. Bernstein died, an attorney notified her that Jeffrey Bernstein had fired her. Six weeks later, according to the complaint, she was notified that, “despite assurances in the agreement,” her compensation would end after July 31 and health insurance would end after Aug. 31.
Flynn accused Jeffrey Bernstein of violating her agreement with his father, and she is demanding monetary damages “to be determined at trial.”
Jeffrey Bernstein did not reply to a message asking for his side of the story.
