A Virginia doctor who was convicted on 52 counts relating to medical fraud and performing unnecessary surgeries on patients faces nearly 500 years behind bars when he is sentenced next March. Federal prosecutors said that Dr. Javaid Perwaiz billed private and governmental insurers for millions of dollars to cover the cost of surgeries for nearly 200 women. He also billed the insurers for diagnostic tests he never performed.
Those surgeries were medically unnecessary and, in some cases, unwanted by the patients. After Perwaiz was arrested, 173 women came forward to tell authorities about how he lied to them in order to convince them they needed to have surgery.
He was also accused of falsifying the records of pregnant women so he could induce their labor early, which put the women and their unborn children at risk. He did so to ensure that he would get reimbursed for the medical procedures. In other instances, he ignored a 30-day waiting period to perform elective sterilizations and backdated the forms when he submitted them to Medicaid.
“Dr. Perwaiz preyed upon his trusting patients and committed horrible crimes to feed his greed,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Perwaiz will be sentenced on March 31 and could spend the rest of his life behind bars if he is sentenced to the maximum punishment of 465 years in prison.
Photo: Western Tidewater Regional Jail