A former Houston doctor convicted of sexually assaulting a heavily sedated patient at Ben Taub Hospital will not go to jail, the Houston Chronicle reported. A judge sentenced the doctor, Shafeeq, 46, to 10 years of probation and a $10,000 fine. Convictions for second degree sexual assault in Texas carry a range of 2 to 20 years in prison. He will also have to register as a sex offender and has lost his medical license from the Texas Medical Board.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the woman was a patient at the hospital when the doctor returned to her bedside more than once during the night. She tried to call for help with the nurse call button, which turned out to be disconnected. Investigators were unable to identify the attacker right away. About two years later, DNA from the patient’s rape kit led them to Shafeeq, who had been fired from Ben Taub the year before. Hospital security footage reportedly showed him entering her floor at least 12 times that night.
At trial, Shafeeq did not deny that DNA showed intimate contact. His defense was that it was consensual, a claim the jury rejected when it convicted him.
At the time of his 2015 arrest, he was working at Houston Methodist Hospital. A spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle he was immediately suspended and then terminated after the hospital learned of the allegations.
Made to order and shipped to your door.
