More than 500 women sued Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Virginia, and alleged the organization allowed a former physician to perform unnecessary, harmful, and invasive gynecologic medical procedures. The plaintiffs seek $10 million for each victim.
The complaint also names medical center executives, James Reese Jackson, Peter Bastone, and Wynn Dixon as defendants.
The plaintiffs allege that the defendants enabled "former physician Javaid Perwaiz to perform unnecessary, uninformed, harmful, invasive, unlawful, and life-altering gynecologic medical procedures" on more than 500 women for "nearly a decade . . . despite reports and clear evidence of Perwaiz's prior misconduct".
It also alleges that the defendants had a relationship with Perwaiz that allegedly allowed the physician's abnormal medical practices to be ignored.
The medical center is alleged to have conducted negligent credentialing and privileging. Plaintiffs claim Perwaiz's continued presence at the medical center was based on financial motivations while patient safety was ignored.
Perwaiz was convicted in 2020 and is serving a 59-year federal prison sentence for conducting irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and other unnecessary medical procedures, misleading women about their health, and even telling some they had cancer when they did not.
In January 2025, the medical center was indicted by a grand jury on allegations that it was complicit in Perwaiz's crimes because it allowed him to work there from 1984 to 2019 despite allegedly being aware that his medical privileges had been terminated at a different facility because he performed unnecessary procedures.
The indictment also includes allegations that other medical center employees raised concerns about Perwaiz, but no action was taken.
The medical center allegedly received roughly $18.5 million in reimbursements from healthcare benefit programs for surgeries Perwaiz performed.
Source: https://www.wtkr.com/news/in-the-community/chesapeake/hundreds-sue-chesapeake-regional-medical-center-for-combined-5-1-billion-docs
Commentary
The hospital in the above matter is facing billions in potential civil exposure for allegedly failing to properly assess the credentials and privileges of a physician and for retaining him despite alleged evidence of misconduct and loss of privileges at another healthcare organization.
Healthcare organizations cannot simply hire or contract with physicians and call it a day. They must engage in an ongoing process of review to determine who is allowed to retain privileges at their organization.
Failure to do so can lead to claims of negligent credentialing, which is failing to properly conduct a diligent inquiry into a physician's background, license, training, and past misconduct before allowing them to treat patients.
Plaintiffs who allege negligent credentialing typically must prove:
1. A legal duty existed for the healthcare organization to properly credential the healthcare provider
2. The organization breached that duty by failing to conduct a thorough investigation
3. The patient suffered an injury due to care provided by the healthcare provider, and
4. The hospital's breach of duty was the direct cause of the patient's injury - if that duty had been fulfilled and the provider were not granted privileges, the harm would not have occurred.
Credentialing at healthcare organizations is not a one-time event that occurs at hiring. The risks of negligent credentialing continue when privileges must be renewed, and providers must be re-credentialed (e.g. when licenses or certifications expire).
The final takeaway is healthcare organizations must treat credentialing as an ongoing duty and an important priority. Failing to do so can lead to significant financial risks.
Source: https://www.healthstream.com/resources/what-hospitals-need-to-know-about-negligent-credentialing-liability?type=Blogs
