Hundreds of women sue Virginia hospital for allowing convicted Pakistani doctor to perform hysterectomies without their consent

Over 500 women have sued Virginia’s Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, alleging that the health system had "enabled" former physician Javaid Perwaiz, who is currently in prison, to perform unnecessary surgeries on them. Perwaiz was convicted of Medicaid fraud and is serving a 59-year sentence for performing unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including hysterectomies, on women without their consent.

In total, 510 plaintiffs are each seeking $10 million. The 204-page complaint alleges that despite "repeated reports and clear evidence" of prior misconduct by Perwaiz, who is from Pakistan and came to the US in the 1980s, at his own OBGYN practice, the hospital enabled him to perform unnecessary surgeries for nearly a decade.

One of the plaintiffs, Dracena Holloway, told WAVY, "He came off nice and secure, made me feel comfortable and then that’s when things changed." She said she began seeing Perwaiz in 2002, who performed over 10 surgeries on her. "I can barely walk. Sometimes I have a lot of abdominal pain, I have chronic illnesses [and] my children have to help me out most of the time."

She said that Perwaiz delivered four of her children, and induced labor prior to 39 weeks without a medical reason. "I just feel like the hospital needs to be held accountable. The doctor’s already locked up for it, but somebody else needs to be held accountable, which is the hospital, because they allowed him to practice there."

Perwaiz was reportedly granted privileges to operate at the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, and the plaintiffs allege that the hospital ignored red flags in order to cash checks. The lawsuit names current and former Chesapeake Regional Medical Center executives as well as the center itself: current president and CEO James Reese Jackson, and his predecessors, Peter Francis Bastone and Wynn Lawton Dixon Jr.

Perwaiz was indicted for fraud in 2019 following an anonymous tip that was sent to investigators. He ran a solo practice in Chesapeake for nearly 40 years, and allegations go back into the 1980s. At the conclusion of his 2020 trial, Perwaiz was found guilty on 54 of 63 charges.

The Chesapeake Regional Medical Center was charged with healthcare fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and interference with government functions by a federal grand jury in January, with the charges alleging that between 2010 and 2019, the hospital received around $18.5 million in reimbursements for surgical and obstetric procedures the convicted physician performed at the hospital.