Over 600 women have come forward to sue Chesapeake Regional Medical Center for turning a blind eye to a former doctor’s malpractices.
Former physician Javaid Perwaiz is currently serving 59 years in federal prison after he was found guilty in 2021 for healthcare fraud. Perwaiz reportedly lied to patients for nearly two decades, leading them to receive unnecessary and sometimes irreversible surgeries. Victims claim that the former doctor would fabricate cancer results, induce pregnancies, and conduct hysterectomies, permanently sterilizing women, to earn financial gain from insurance companies.
Now, in a lawsuit initially filed last week, women like Niki Murry are coming forward to share their experience under Perwaiz’s care at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
“He gave me a C-section. He also did a D&C [Dilation and Curettage procedure] on me for some reason. But it’s like ever since I got the D&C, I’ve been having like bad problems with my menstrual,” Murry told WTKR.
Since its filing, the number of plaintiffs has increased from 500 to 600 and counting, as more women come forward. Amongst the new wave of victims is Shantel Boone, who claims that she unknowingly received an unnecessary hysterectomy from Perwaiz in 2017, a procedure that not only hindered her ability to have any more children, but also prompted early onset menopause.
“I do not have a uterus. Immediately [in my] early 30s, [I] went into straight menopause. Night sweats, hormonal mood swings, just feeling depressed,” she explained. “And, I lost my husband. So when you think about starting over, I don’t have that option to do so if I wanted to.”
“The emotional abuse, the physical stuff that I go through…I’m not supposed to be going through what I’m going through this early,” she added.
The newly filed lawsuit accused Chesapeake Regional Medical Center of knowingly ignoring Perwaiz’s malpractice, as it allegedly generated revenue for the hospital. According to medical malpractice attorney Anthony DiPietro, who is representing the women’s case, nurses and OBGYNs in the facility reported their suspicions about Perwaiz’s actions and were told “to shut up because Perwaiz is making the hospital a lot of money.”
“There is ongoing debate as to whether or not he was a misogynist, but we believe he billed Medicare and other providers up to $20 million,” DiPietro said, per 13 News Now. “The worst thing is that the hospital knew.”
“The CEOs of CRMC knew for decades what Perwaiz was doing. But instead of protecting patients, they wanted to just protect their bottom line and their profits,” he told WTKR.
In light of the allegations, Chesapeake Medical Center issued a statement denying its involvement and emphasizing that Perwaiz was not an employee of the hospital. Instead, he was a credentialed physician, giving him the right to operate at the facility, a common practice within the medical field.
“The allegations that form the primary basis for this lawsuit were taken by Dr. Javaid Perwaiz – who has never been an employee of Chesapeake Regional Healthcare (CRH),” the statement read. “His actions, for which he is now serving a lengthy prison sentence, occurred without the knowledge of the organization. CRH strives to provide the best care to its patients, including through its medical staff physicians. Unfortunately, privacy laws prohibit us from commenting further on these allegations.”
