We handle civil claims of medical malpractice – that is, we recover money for folks who have been injured through negligence of a medical provider. This is quite a bit different than a criminal case, which is brought by the state or federal government. The differences between civil claims and criminal charges are significant, but we learn from nearly each of our focus groups that many of the distinctions are blurred for folks who have not been involved in the justice system. There are very few instances when medical malpractice becomes criminal.

One distinction is that no one is found “guilty” in a civil case – guilt is a criminal concept – instead, a defendant may be found “liable.” And no one goes to jail if they are found liable in a civil trial; instead, they become financially responsible for whatever damages the jury assigns to the defendant.

The cases where civil liability for negligence overlaps with criminal negligence are few and far between. You may have read about Dr. Christopher Duntsch in Texas, for example. In a recent case out of Virginia, a jury found an OB/GYN, Dr. Javaid Perwaiz, guilty of 52 counts of defrauding private insurers, government insurers, and his patients, out of millions of dollars. The penalty for these convictions is up to 465 years in prison.

While the charges brought by the Department of Justice were for health care fraud and false statements related to health care matters, the human cost to each of these women and their families was very real and significant.

So what happens to the patients on whom he performed these surgeries? The Department of Justice explains that restitution payments – payments ordered by a judge to victims of crimes – may not be available to many of the victims in this case. But those with time remaining under the Virginia medical malpractice statute of limitations may yet be able to recover from Dr. Perwaiz and his liability insurer, depending on the language of his insurance policy. It appears that journey for many of his victims is far from over.