A US obstetrician and gynAecologist was sentenced to 59 years in jail for performing medically unnecessary surgeries including hysterectomies and improper sterilisations on over nearly a decade, reports MedicalBrief.
According to a statement released by the US Justice Department, the jury convicted the septuagenerian Dr Javaid Perwaiz on 52 counts of health care fraud, in excess of $20m, and other charges arising from his performance of irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilisations, and other medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures.
According to court records and evidence presented at trial and at sentencing, Perwaiz, approximately 71 years old, an obstetrician-gynaecologist (OB/GYN) who practiced in Hampton Roads since the 1980s, executed a scheme to defraud health insurance programs between at least 2010 and 2019. During that period, Perwaiz caused approximately $20.8 million dollars in losses to private and government health care insurers for irreversible hysterectomies and other surgeries and procedures that were not medically necessary for his patients.
In many instances, Perwaiz would falsely tell his patients that they needed the surgeries because they had cancer, or to avoid cancer, in order to induce them to agree to the surgeries. Many of the surgeries occurred within days of the false diagnoses.
“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 US 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. Despite having to endure immeasurable physical and emotional pain, the victims showed resilience, strength, and courage by speaking out and sharing their stories to hold the defendant accountable for his heinous crimes. While no prosecution can undo the lifelong trauma that Perwaiz cruelly inflicted on his patients, today’s sentence ensures that the victims and their families have the last word.”
“This individual not only defrauded our healthcare system out of millions of dollars, he did so by performing unnecessary surgeries on women and putting their health and safety at risk,” said Mark R Herring, Attorney General of Virginia. “Doctors should never take advantage of the trust that their patients put in them, and those who do should be held accountable. I want to thank my team for their hard work on this case and I also want to thank our local, state, and federal partners for their ongoing collaboration and partnership on this and other important cases.”
The evidence also demonstrated that Perwaiz falsified records for his obstetric patients so that he could induce their labor early, prior to the recommended gestational age that minimises risk to the mother and baby, to ensure he would be reimbursed for the deliveries. Perwaiz also violated the 30-day waiting period Medicaid requires for elective sterilisations by submitting backdated forms to falsely make it appear as if he had complied with the waiting period. Perwaiz billed insurance hundreds of thousands of dollars for diagnostic procedures that he only pretended to perform at his office.
The witnesses at trial included more than 25 former patients, some of whom testified to the complications they continue to endure as a result of the unnecessary surgeries Perwaiz performed. In addition, the Court received over 60 Victim Impact Statements and the FBI received hundreds of tips through its hotline concerning Perwaiz’s actions. Witnesses also included nurses who worked at the hospitals where Perwaiz performed his surgeries, who testified that they repeatedly complained about his practices to their supervisors.