Former Pakistani American Doctor in Virginia Sentenced to 59 Years in Prison

A former Virginia doctor was sentenced to 59 years in federal prison for performing unnecessary gynecological surgeries on unsuspecting patients, including hysterectomies, dilation and curettage procedures, removal of ovaries and Fallopian tubes, the Justice Department announced on May 18. Javaid Perwaiz, 71, wrongly billed multiple insurance companies approximately $2.3 million for procedures and surgeries that were based upon never-performed diagnostic hysteroscopies and colposcopies, the DOJ said. He is also accused of altering sterilization consent forms and filing insurance claims for procedures that were never performed. 

“Motivated by his insatiable and reprehensible greed, Perwaiz used an arsenal of horrifying tactics to manipulate and deceive patients into undergoing invasive, unnecessary, and devastating medical procedures, said Raj Parekh, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “These fraudulent and destructive surgeries caused irreversible damage to the victims. In many instances, the defendant shattered their ability to have children by using fear to remove organs from their bodies that he had no right to take.”

Parvaiz was convicted by a jury in November for 52 counts of healthcare fraud and other charges related to his performance as an obstetrician-gynecologist of irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and other medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures on his patients over a decade.  He was arrested in November 2019 for health care fraud and has been charged with 26 counts of health care fraud, 33 counts of making false statements relating to healthcare matters, and three counts of aggravated identity theft. The FBI began investigating Perwaiz in September 2018, after receiving a tip from a hospital employee.

As per the DOJ press release, Perwaiz performed the surgeries and procedures between at least January 2010 and November 2019, and justified them by falsifying patient statements and diagnoses. An indictment filed in the court on June 19 reveals that Dr. Perwaiz billed Medicaid and TRICARE for 84 deliveries in 2019. Out of these, at least 33 of the women were believed to have been induced early without a medical cause. The early elective inducements of labor allowed him to ensure he delivered the babies on days he was scheduled to be working at the hospital, the indictment says. It also claims that he “routinely and aggressively” encouraged women to consent to irreversible and unnecessary procedures, sometimes telling them they’d develop cancer if they didn’t. The indictment includes examples of 17 women who underwent unnecessary hysterectomies and other procedures are listed in the indictment, including one who suffered “serious bodily injury.”

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As per the indictment, Perwaiz was first licensed to practice medicine in Virginia in April 1980.  He attended medical school in his native Pakistan and completed a residency at Charleston Area Medical Center. He was a solo practitioner and owned and operated Javaid A. Perwaiz, M.D., P.O, at two different locations in Chesapeake,Virginia. In addition to treating obstetric patients, he performed gynecological services, both in his office and at various hospitals and outpatient surgical centers within the Eastern District of Virginia. 

The former doctor, who had practiced in Hampton Roads since the 1980s, would often tell his patients they needed surgeries because they had cancer or could get cancer, the DOJ said.The Washington Post noted that Perwaiz “had a singular way of writing dates on patients’ charts.” Instead of slashes between numbers, he used dots.