On January 8, 2025, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center (a/k/a Chesapeake General Hospital, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare) (“CRMC”) was charged in a two-count criminal indictment charging it with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and interfere with government functions, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and one count of health care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347, related to its alleged actions involving CRMC’s billing to insurance companies for Dr. Javaid Perwaiz ’s performance of surgeries and other procedures at its facility. In November 2020, Perwaiz was convicted of 52 counts of health care fraud and false statements in health care matters in 2:19-cr-189 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Approximately 38 counts of the convictions were for procedures performed at CRMC, including unnecessary hysterectomies and other invasive and irreversible surgeries, elective inductions prior to 39 weeks of gestation without medical justification, and sterilizations of Medicaid patients without consent forms signed 30 days in advance. CRMC made its appearance before the Court and entered a plea of not guilty.
According to the indictment, CRMC was a hospital in Chesapeake, Virginia. In order to perform a procedure at CRMC, a physician must either be a CRMC employee or have privileges at the hospital. In April 1984, CRMC granted privileges to Perwaiz. Perwaiz performed all of his obstetric deliveries and inpatient surgeries, including hysterectomies, and other surgeries and procedures, at CRMC. The vast majority of these procedures took place on Saturdays when he had a reserved surgical block time at CRMC. He often performed as many as ten surgeries per Saturday.
While Perwaiz’s application for privileges at CRMC was pending, in December 1983, CRMC’s President, who remained the President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until 2005, was notified by Maryview Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, that Perwaiz’s privileges at Maryview had been terminated earlier that year. Maryview terminated Perwaiz’s privileges for performing unnecessary gynecological surgeries, including irreversible hysterectomies on approximately a dozen patients, including young patients of child-bearing age. After review of Perwaiz’s application, CRMC’s Department of Surgery initially declared him unacceptable for appointment, noting his suspension at Maryview for “unnecessary surgery.” Nonetheless, in April 1984, CRMC granted Perwaiz privileges to perform surgeries there.
In 1995, Perwaiz was indicted on six counts of felony tax fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He pleaded guilty to two of the counts, and admitted in public filings to extensive fraudulent conduct, including, among other things, falsely claiming a Ferrari luxury sports car as an ultrasound machine so that he could write it off as a business expense. CRMC’s President wrote and submitted a letter of support for Perwaiz’s 1996 sentencing, calling Perwaiz his “personal friend,” and CRMC’s Chief of the Department of OB/GYN attended the sentencing hearing. On April 10, 1996, the Court sentenced Perwaiz to four months of home confinement, probation, and community service.
Following Perwaiz’s felony conviction, on April 29, 1996, the Virginia Board of Medicine (the “Board”) revoked Perwaiz’s medical license. In June 1996, it held a hearing to determine whether Perwaiz’s license should be reinstated, and ultimately reinstated it in July 1996 with stipulated terms and conditions. For the hearing, CRMC’s President filed another letter of support in June 1996 that contained, among other things, a “physician profitability” analysis. The President indicated that for calendar year 1995, CRMC was able to charge over $760,000 (or nearly $1.5 million in today’s dollars) for Perwaiz’s surgeries, resulting in a profit for the hospital of over $400 (or over $820 in today’s dollars) “per case.”
A local OB/GYN with privileges at CRMC, W.R., also provided information regarding Perwaiz to the Board. W.R. estimated that about 2/3 of Perwaiz’s patients’ surgeries were medically unnecessary. He highlighted that Perwaiz had a high rate of surgery on young women with minimal problems, repeatedly operated on the same patients and conducted recurring surgeries on benign cysts, all of which “adds up to a very dangerous situation for patients.” W.R. stated that four other doctors in his practice shared his concerns. CRMC wrote a letter of reprimand to W.R. because his statements were “reasonably likely to be harmful to the Hospital’s best interests and inconsistent with the Hospital’s objectives.’” and is recommending that you receive a letter of admonition and reprimand…You are hereby warned to refrain from making such unsupportable statements in any forum, and most importantly, in a public forum. If the Hospital Authority becomes aware of similar action on your part in the future, you may expect initiation of more severe corrective action.” W.R. continued to express his concerns about Perwaiz’s medical practices. Despite these warnings and other knowledge of Perwaiz’s criminal actions, CRMC allowed him to continue to use their facility until his arrest in November 2019.
From 2010 to 2019, CRMC received approximately $18.5 million in reimbursements from health care benefit programs for surgical and obstetric procedures Perwaiz performed at the facility.
The USAO and CRMC reached a tentative Deferred Prosecution Agreement, which would resolve this matter without a criminal trial. Under the terms of the agreement, CRMC is required to admit certain facts, retain an Independent Monitor to make compliance and other changes, pay restitution to health care benefit programs (such as Medicaid and Medicare), and establish a $12.8 million fund for patients who have medical records showing they had procedures performed by Perwaiz at CRMC. This fund will be used to pay losses that are compensable under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA), which allows compensation for items such as the costs of medical procedures or therapy, but does not include compensation for emotional distress or similar damages.
If you or a loved one suffered harm as a result of unnecessary surgery in Virginia or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Virginia medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your unnecessary surgery malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in an unnecessary surgery malpractice case, if appropriate.
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