Chesapeake Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay approximately $19.2 million in restitution and acknowledge responsibility for conduct connected to unnecessary surgeries performed by former OB-GYN Javaid Perwaiz.
The hospital and federal prosecutors finalized a deferred prosecution agreement Friday, Oct. 23, according to Becker's Hospital Review, which reviewed the court documents.
The agreement calls for approximately $12.8 million to be placed in a restitution fund for eligible former patients and $6.4 million to be paid to health care benefit programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.
It also requires the hospital to retain an independent compliance monitor and strengthen oversight of physician privileges, patient consent, medical necessity and internal reporting.
What happens to the criminal case
Federal prosecutors charged Chesapeake Regional in January 2025 with health care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Under the deferred prosecution agreement, the government would seek dismissal of those charges if the hospital satisfies the agreement's conditions during a two-year term.
That term begins after the hospital retains both an independent monitor and a claims administrator, according to Becker's review.
The hospital's agreement is not itself a criminal conviction or an immediate dismissal of the charges. The parties have asked a federal court to approve the deferred prosecution arrangement.
Years of warnings documented
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has detailed the hospital's long relationship with Perwaiz.
In 1983, Maryview Hospital in Portsmouth notified Chesapeake Regional's leadership that it had terminated Perwaiz's privileges after finding he performed unnecessary gynecological surgeries.
Chesapeake Regional's Department of Surgery initially considered him unacceptable for appointment, citing the other hospital's concerns. Nevertheless, Chesapeake Regional granted him surgical privileges in April 1984.
Court records also describe a 1996 reprimand of another physician who publicly questioned Perwaiz's surgical practices.
Perwaiz continued performing procedures at Chesapeake Regional until his arrest in November 2019.
Federal prosecutors said the hospital received approximately $18.5 million in reimbursements from health care benefit programs for procedures Perwaiz performed between 2010 and 2019.
Perwaiz was convicted in November 2020 on 52 federal counts involving health care fraud and false statements. Approximately 38 involved procedures at Chesapeake Regional, according to prosecutors.
Those procedures included unnecessary hysterectomies, other invasive surgeries, medically unjustified early labor inductions and sterilizations of Medicaid patients without the required advance consent documentation.
Perwaiz is serving a 59-year federal prison sentence.
What the patient fund covers
The agreement establishes approximately $12.8 million for patients whose medical records show they underwent procedures performed by Perwaiz at Chesapeake Regional.
The fund is intended to compensate qualifying losses under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act, including certain medical treatment and therapy expenses.
It does not cover emotional distress or similar damages under that federal restitution framework.
According to Becker's review of the agreement, eligible patients will have six months from the start of the agreement's two-year term to submit claims.
The Justice Department's case-information page also contains information about requesting available patient medical records.
Civil lawsuits continue
The criminal agreement does not end separate civil litigation brought by former patients.
More than 1,000 women are involved in litigation against Chesapeake Regional related to Perwaiz's procedures, according to WAVY's Oct. 28 report.
The civil claims allege that hospital leadership permitted Perwaiz to continue practicing despite warnings about his conduct. The hospital's liability on those individual civil claims remains unresolved.
A hearing in that litigation was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28. No outcome of that hearing was established in the records reviewed for this article.
The hospital has expressed sorrow to affected patients and families and said it must accept responsibility for its historical role.
It has also described steps taken to strengthen its compliance program, including external review, revised training and additional scrutiny of medical necessity in billing.
