BOSTON -- They are called medical spas: a combination of a soothing spa-like atmosphere with cosmetic and medical services such as laser hair removal, Botox and collagen injections.

But in some of the spas, there are questions about the safety of the services they provide.

NewsCenter 5 has learned that a well-known chain of medical spas in Massachusetts may have broken the law in providing some treatments to their customers.

Heather Unruh reported that a nurse who asked to hide her identity raised questions about the spas.

"How can a medical spa open its doors, offer these services, employing people to do illegal acts?" the nurse, identified as Diane, asked.

Diane left an eight-year career as a critical care nurse at a major Boston hospital for a job she thought would be less stressful and more fun. A job at a chain of businesses called Sleek Med Spas.

"I liked the medical facet. There were two board-certified plastic surgeons on board," she said.

Diane was hired to give injections -- including the anti-wrinkle drug Botox, and facial fillers such as collagen and Restylane. But during the month she trained, her concerns grew.

"I was told the doctors were always available. I assumed available meant on the premises. They aren't on the premises," she said.

Diane was worried about what might happen if a patient had an allergic reaction as a result of an injection. She called the state Board of Registration in Nursing. What she found out shocked her. She said the board told her that what she was being trained to do was against state regulations.

"Collagen and Restalyne have been looked at by the Board of Registration in nursing and it has been determined that they don't fall within the scope of practice for nurses," said Jean Pontikas, director of the Board Of Professional Licensure.

Not only that, but according to the Board of Registration in medicine, a nurse can only inject Botox once a doctor has examined a patient and written a specific order for that individual -- something Diane said didn't happen.

"I was scared. I was at risk of losing my RN license. I had been lied to," she said.

The CEO of the med spas, Andrew Rudnick, declined an on camera interview.

In a statement, Rudnick said "I was extremely disappointed to learn ... that our medical directors were not properly supervising these activities. I immediately brought this to the attention of our medical directors."

But one week after Diane said she alerted spa management to what she had discovered, our producer was told at a Newbury Street location that she could get any one of the treatments, all delivered not by a doctor, but by a nurse.

"The concern we have about these medical spas is this is independent practice of medicine by non-physicians and that is illegal," said Nancy Achin Audesse of the Board of Registration in Medicine.

The spa's medical directors were Richard Ehrlichman and Robert Gilman. They were paid a flat fee to serve as medical directors of Sleek -- coming in 10 hours per month, mostly to check charts. In a statement, they claimed they were not aware that nurses were giving injections when they were not present and "would have put a halt to it immediately."

For now, Diane just wants consumers to be aware that while the state does oversee doctors and nurses, no agency polices the spas.

"Do you think it's dangerous, what they're doing?" NewsCenter 5 asked.

"Very dangerous. People are being put at risk," Diane said.

In the month Diane was being trained, she said she never saw any adverse outcomes as a result of the injections. The nurse who was training Diane has quit and as a result of our investigation, the company and the physicians have also parted ways.

The company said it has hired another physician who will do all the injections.

There is a bill that has just passed the Massachusetts Senate that would establish a task force to set specific regulations for medical spas.

The House is expected to take up the plan this week.