Houston Doctor, Who Raped His Heavily Sedated Patient, Will Not Face Any Jail Time

That same physician later returned to her bedside and sexually assaulted her on two other occasions during the night.

The 27 year-old woman attempted to call for help using the nurse call button not knowing the button was disconnected.

Investigators later were unable to immediately identify the patient’s rapist. In fact, it wasn’t until two years later that investigators identified Dr. Shafeeq Sheikh, who was fired from Ben Taub the previous year, using DNA from the patient’s rape kit. Footage from the hospital’s security cameras also showed Sheikh entering the floor where the patient was staying at least 12 times during the night of the alleged incident, according to the Houston Chronicle.

During the trial, Sheikh didn’t deny having sexual relations with the woman while working a night shift—DNA evidence proved some sort of intimate activity. However, he claimed the unprotected sex act he’d engaged in with her was consensual. Sheikh told the jury that although she wasn’t one of his patients, he’d entered her room after noticing her breast implants, claiming the patient placed his hand on her breasts herself. According to Sheikh, during another visit to her room, she touched his genitals and indicated with her body language that she wanted to have sex.

He even claimed he knew she “wanted more” because she had shifted her butt toward the edge of the hospital stretcher.

The Houston Chronicle also reported that Sheikh’s defense attorney argued at trial that the patient had no one to blame but herself, alleging that she seduced his client. The attorney then shared seductive photos from the woman’s Instagram account with the jury to further prove his argument. As part of his defense, Sheikh claimed he knew the act was a violation of his Hippocratic Oath but that he’d given in to “impulse.”

At the time of his arrest in 2015, Sheikh was working at Houston Methodist Hospital. A spokesperson for that hospital told the Houston Chronicle that Sheikh was “immediately suspended and then terminated” after they learned of the allegations against him.

Although he lost his job and his medical license from the Texas Medical Board, the established doctor won’t face any jail time. While convictions of second-degree sexual assault range from 2-20 years in prison, the judge sentenced Dr. Shafeeq Sheikh to 10 years of probation and a $10,000 fine. As a result of his conviction 46-year-old Sheikh will also have to register as a sex offender.