NORFOLK, Va. — Today, a Chesapeake Obstetrician and Gynecologist took the stand in federal court for the second time.
Doctor Javaid Perwaiz is on trial for fraud charges.
After his arrest, patients came forward claiming he did unnecessary procedures without their consent.
Some women came up to 13News Now reporters inside the courthouse saying they were previous patients of Doctor Javaid Perwaiz. They listened and reacted at times, as his defense attorney questioned him on the stand.
From medical to financial decisions, Doctor Perwaiz’s defense attorney asked him questions on all of the topics.
The big talker: his patient care.
In previous court hearings for this case, the prosecuting attorney brought witnesses to the stand who claimed Perwaiz would do procedures without functioning or clean medical devices, and would schedule as many surgeries as possible on Saturdays, to make money.
Today, the doctor told the court a surgery for a patient was “needed, necessary, and in the standard of care.”
From a virtual viewing room, people who claimed to be previous patients shook their heads in disagreement.
A judge later told jurors they must decide if the procedures met “the standard of care,” not Perwaiz.
On the stand, Perwaiz said he would back-date medical forms for sterilization procedures.
There’s a mandatory 30 day waiting period to give the patients time to consider the decision. Perwaiz says the date adjustment was to “help the patients.”
Financially, the doctor says he has not wife or kids - so he spent his money on personal use items, gifts and things of high value.
Those include three houses and multiple cars.
The doctor acknowledged that he lost his medical license due to federal tax issues in 1983, but he says he got it reinstated later.
The defense attorney pointed out that Perwaiz denied being convicted of a felony on a 2019 medical license form.
He said that was a mistake, marking the wrong answer for the wrong question.
Since then, Perwaiz claims he paid back the money from that conviction and has continued to pay his taxes.
The prosecuting attorney began cross-examining Perwaiz, and later told the court they have seven more witnesses lined up.
This trial is expected to go on for days.