CHESAPEAKE, Va. — More than 500 women are seeking $10 million each from Chesapeake Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in connection with unnecessary operations conducted by a former doctor, according to a complaint obtained by News 3 on Tuesday.
The complaint specifically names three defendants: James Reese Jackson, Peter Bastone, and Wynn Dixon. Jackson has served as the president and CEO of CRMC since Dec. 1, 2016 — Bastone and Dixon are his predecessors.
The complaint specifically accuses the defendants of "enabling former physician Javaid Perwaiz to perform unnecessary, uninformed, harmful, invasive, unlawful, and life-altering gynecologic medical procedures on them and other women, for nearly a decade, at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, despite repeated reports and clear evidence of Perwaiz’s prior misconduct in his obstetrics and gynecology practice."
Perwaiz, a former doctor, is currently serving a 59-year-long federal prison sentence for conducting irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and other medically unnecessary procedures for over a decade. He misled women about their health, telling some they had cancer when they did not, according to court records. Perwaiz was convicted in 2020.
In November, News 3's True Crime 757 Podcast did a deep dive on Perwaiz and the harm he inflicted on vulnerable patients in his care.
True Crime 757 Podcast: The 'incalculable' human toll of convicted OBGYN Perwaiz and his unnecessary surgeries
The complaint also alleges that the defendants’ relationship with Perwaiz led to safety concerns and abnormal practices involving the former doctor being ignored. It further states that Perwaiz’s continued credentialing and privileging as a doctor at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center was allowed “based on financial motivation rather than patient safety or quality standards.”
News 3 has been covering this story for years and has talked to several women who say Perwaiz violated them.
“Come to find out. He never took my ovaries. He never took my ovaries. He did the hysterectomy, told my family that I had cancer. I had none of it," one of the victims said back in 2020.
News 3 Chesapeake Reporter Erin Holly spoke to the attorneys for the hundreds of women who are suing Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
“This case isn't just about malpractice. It's not just about fraud. And it's not just about CRMC's theft of taxpayer money for all the unnecessary surgeries that Perwaiz performed...But what this case is really about, is it is the largest Civil Rights violation to occur in modern healthcare," Anthony DiPietro, a Patient Safety and Medical Malpractice Trial Attorney said.
On Jan. 8, 2025, CRMC was indicted by a grand jury due to allegations that the hospital was complicit in Perwaiz's crimes.
Watch previous coverage: Indictment of Chesapeake Regional alleges hospital was complicit in former OBGYN's crimes
Prosecutors alleged that CRMC allowed Perwaiz to work there from 1984 until 2019, despite being aware that his medical privileges had been terminated at Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth for performing unnecessary surgeries. Last week, a judge dismissed the hospital's attempts to throw out the case.
Read the full indictment:
Chesapeake
Grand jury indictment of Chesapeake Regional Medical Center
From 2010 to 2019, the hospital reportedly received about $18.5 million in reimbursements from healthcare benefit programs for surgeries performed by Perwaiz. The indictment also indicates that some employees raised concerns regarding his conduct, but no action was taken.
Chesapeake Regional Healthcare sent the following statement to News 3:
"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). 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."
News 3 Chesapeake Reporter Erin Holly asked the plantiff's attorneys for a response to CRMC's statement.
“There are procedures in place to make sure that the physicians that are performing surgeries and treating patients in medical institutions are qualified to do so, and that they’re safe," DiPietro said.
“They provided him the opportunity to continue to do this. And if a doctor doesn’t have an operating room to perform his monstrous acts, then they don’t happen, and women are protected," Victoria Wickman, a Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyer said.
Wickman and DiPietro tell News 3 they expect pre-trial proceedings to start next month.
