510 Patients Sue Chesapeake Regional and Its Leaders Over Alleged Unnecessary Surgeries
The case sharpens scrutiny of hospital oversight after federal findings of falsified records, Medicaid targeting, plus a prior indictment.
Overview
- Filed Dec. 29, the civil complaint seeks $10 million per plaintiff from Chesapeake Regional Medical Center and names current CEO Reese Jackson and former CEOs Peter Bastone and Wynn Dixon.
- The suit claims hospital leaders repeatedly renewed Dr. Javaid Perwaiz’s privileges from 2010 to 2019 despite staff warnings about coerced sterilizations and other unwarranted procedures.
- Prosecutors previously documented fabricated cancer diagnoses, altered obstetric records to justify early inductions, and backdated consent forms to bypass Medicaid’s 30‑day sterilization rule.
- A January 2025 federal indictment alleges the hospital collected about $18–18.5 million tied to Perwaiz’s procedures; the hospital has pleaded not guilty and labeled the case government overreach.
- Plaintiffs, largely Black women on Medicaid, report lasting harm, with hospital neonatologists having flagged disproportionate NICU admissions known as the “Perwaiz special”; Perwaiz is serving a 59‑year sentence after 52 federal convictions.