NORFOLK, Va. - Next week, Dr. Javaid Perwaiz will go in front of a jury of his peers, inside the Norfolk Federal Courthouse.
The gynecologist is accused of performing dozens of unnecessary hysterectomies, and removal of ovaries and Fallopian tubes over a 9 year period in Suffolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake.
Perwaiz is also accused of falsifying sterilization consent forms and inducing early labor. He faces more than 60 federal charges after his arrest in November of 2019.
They include 26 counts of health care fraud, 33 counts of making false statements relating to healthcare matters, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
Tuesday a federal court judge dismissed one count of aggravated identity theft.
Last month, Perwaiz filed a motion to dismiss 37 of the federal charges .
In court Tuesday we learned 69-year-old Perwaiz is recovering from COVID-19 after a recent outbreak in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail.
More than 100 inmates tested positive. A federal judge Tuesday hoped the lockdown of the jail would be lifted by Tuesday when the United States and the defense plan to question 58 jurors, from a previous pool of 198.
The United States plans to call dozens of female witnesses to the stand who say they were victims of Perwaiz.
Opening statements by the prosecution and defense set to take place Wednesday October 14 at 10 a.m.
