NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – More than 3,400 medical records: that’s the number of files law enforcement seized when they raided Dr. Javaid Perwaiz’s Chesapeake office last year.
Pewaiz, who is a longtime OB-GYN, is on trial in federal court for health care fraud.
On Tuesday, Danita Lopes, an investigator with the Department of Defense, gave the jury more insight into the case. Lopes says more than 80 boxes were seized from Perwaiz’s office on Churchland Boulevard Oct. 29, 2019. Investigators seized records going back five years along with medical equipment.
The records were scanned and given back to Perwaiz, who continued to practice until his arrest a month later.
Lopes told the jury there were patterns in the medical records. Often after patients had hysteroscopies and colposcopies, they would end having some sort of surgery. Many of them ended up with hysterectomies.
Investigators also looked at a pattern from Perwaiz’s pregnant patients. She told the court that most of them were induced before 39 weeks. Most hospitals won’t allow a woman to be induced before 39 weeks for fear of harm to the baby.
Lopes says in 2019 there were 33 Tricare and Medicare patients who were induced early. Perwaiz was paid $49,700 for those deliveries.
Investigators uncovered personnel records from Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth dating back to 2002. Lopes told the jury that from 2002 to 2004, hospital administrators cited him for early inductions. There were more of the same records found from 2005.
Dr. Susannah Dillender, a neonatal medicine specialist, testified she worked with Perwaiz at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
Dillender says there were concerns about Perwaiz’s early deliveries. She says staff called infants a “Perwaiz special” because often those babies would require special care in the nursery after birth.
Philadelphia OB-GYN Dr. Jay Goldberg was on the stand as an expert witness for the government. Prosecutors went over case by case with Goldberg. Goldberg was asked to review dozens of notes and reports from Perwaiz’s former patients.
Goldberg went over what each patient went through step by step.
He found they would typically progress from a pap smear, to an ultrasound, and then to a hysterectomy.
Goldberg said in all of these cases, there was no medical reason for the hysterectomy or any other surgeries.
The prosecution’s side of the case is expected to wrap up Wednesday.