More than 600 women are now suing Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, alleging the hospital enabled a former doctor to perform hundreds of medically unnecessary and invasive gynecological surgeries, including hysterectomies and sterilizations, for financial gain.
According to court filings cited by WTKR News 3, the lawsuit is seeking more than $6 billion in damages and has grown by more than 100 plaintiffs since it was initially filed last week, signaling the expanding scope of harm connected to the case.
Former Doctor Serving 59-Year Sentence For Healthcare Fraud
Federal court records show former OB-GYN Javaid Perwaiz has been serving a 59-year prison sentence since 2021 after being convicted of healthcare fraud tied to irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and other non-medically indicated procedures performed on hundreds of women.
In WTKR News 3, several of the women speaking out are Black women who say their reproductive autonomy was permanently altered without informed consent, reviving long-standing concerns about medical racism and the exploitation of Black women’s bodies within healthcare systems.
Plaintiffs Describe Permanent Physical And Emotional Harm
WTKR News 3 reports the testimony by plaintiff Niki Murry said Perwaiz performed a C-section and a dilation and curettage procedure on her, after which she began experiencing severe menstrual complications she had not previously faced.
Shantel Boone, who was recently added to the lawsuit, said Perwaiz performed an unnecessary hysterectomy in 2017 that forced her into early menopause in her early 30s and permanently eliminated her ability to have children.
According to Boone, the procedure caused lasting physical and emotional trauma, including hormonal changes, depression, and grief over a future she says was taken without her consent.
Attorney Says Hospital Leadership Knew And Looked Away
According to 13 News Now, medical malpractice attorney Anthony DiPietro said Perwaiz lied to patients for more than two decades, including falsifying cancer diagnoses, inducing early labor, and sterilizing women without consent in order to bill insurance companies.
DiPietro says Perwaiz allegedly billed Medicare and other providers up to $20 million, while hospital executives allegedly knew about the misconduct and allowed it to continue because it generated revenue.
In 13 News Now, the updated lawsuit now names five former Chesapeake Regional Medical Center CEOs as defendants, alleging they ignored repeated warnings from nurses, colleagues, and another OB-GYN who reported that most of Perwaiz’s surgeries were not medically necessary.
Hospital Denies Allegations, Attorney Pushes Back
According to Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, a spokesperson denied the allegations, stating Perwaiz was never an employee and that his actions occurred without the organization’s knowledge.
DiPietro says that defense overlooks the hospital’s role in credentialing physicians and renewing surgical privileges year after year, despite internal concerns.
Ben Crump Calls Case A Violation Of Women’s Bodily Autonomy
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the lawsuit represents a broader violation of women’s bodily autonomy, particularly for Black women whose reproductive choices have historically been ignored or overridden by medical institutions.
Crump is urging accountability as the only path to justice for women whose bodies, futures, and choices were allegedly betrayed.
Painful Parallels To The “Mississippi Appendectomy”
Historians and civil rights advocates, the allegations have drawn comparisons to the “Mississippi appendectomy,” a term used to describe the forced sterilization of Black women during routine medical procedures throughout the 20th century.
According to public testimony from Fannie Lou Hamer, the civil rights icon was unknowingly sterilized during a routine surgery in 1961, later exposing how Black women were systematically stripped of reproductive autonomy under the guise of medical care.
Those practices were rooted in eugenics and medical racism, targeting Black women under beliefs that framed them as unfit or undeserving of reproductive choice.
So What Happens Next?
Court documents state no trial date has been set, but the plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial.
Victims are seeking $10 million per woman for damages that will affect them for the rest of their lives.
