'Insatiable And Reprehensible Greed': OB-GYN Gets 59 Years For Lying To Patients
Prosecutors say Javaid Perwaiz was "motivated by his insatiable and reprehensible greed" when he lied to his patients, telling some they had cancer, so he could put them through unnecessary surgeries for insurance money.
A Virginia obstetrician-gynecologist has been sentenced to 59 years behind bars for manipulating his patients into undergoing unnecessary surgeries and medical procedures so he could make more money.
Javaid Perwaiz, 71, was sentenced Tuesday, following a November jury conviction of 52 counts of health care fraud and other charges related to “his performance of irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and other medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures on his patients over a decade,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a statement.
Prosecutors say that he “executed a scheme to defraud health insurance programs between at least 2010 and 2019.”
By doing so he caused about “$20.8 million dollars in losses to private and government health care insurers," the statement says
“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,” prosecutors say. “Many of the surgeries occurred within days of the false diagnoses.”
More than 25 of Perwaiz’s former patients made appearances during the trial as witnesses. Several of them testified to “complications they continue to endure as a result of the unnecessary surgeries Perwaiz performed.”
In all, the court received more than 60 victim impact statements and the FBI received hundreds of tips about Perwaiz’s behavior. Several nurses also testified during the former doctor's trial that they repeatedly complained about his practices to their supervisors.
Prosecutors say he was motivated by pure greed. They say the former doctor lined his pockets with the money and used it to buy high end cars and other luxury items. He owned a Bentley and four Mercedes-Benz vehicles when he was arrested in 2019, Virginia’s WHSV reported at the time.
“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,” Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia stated. “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.”
He added that, despite what they endured, “the victims showed resilience, strength, and courage by speaking out and sharing their stories to hold the defendant accountable for his heinous crimes.”
Perwaiz has maintained his innocence.
"I am an advocate for my patients," he testified, according to the Washington Post.