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A medic from Texas got out of the threat of spending time in prison even though he was found guilty of sexually molesting a sedated patient.
The decision for the exact punishment for the 46-year-old Shafeeq Sheikh was taken in August, and according to the court, the offender will be spared serving time behind bars, but he has lost his medical license, (at least temporarily, he still could fight to get it back), and was ordered ten years of probation.
Furthermore, the disgraced doctor’s file will be marked as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Sheikh’s deed took place back in 2013, while he was in the position of an internal medicine resident at the Ben Taub Hospital in Houston.
The victim of the medic was said to be then 27-year-old Laura, and for the time being her last name remains unknown.
According to Laura, who shared the details of her story two years after it happened, she was under the influence of anesthesia when Sheikh arrived and raped her.
Laura, a mother of two, said she was under the effect of the sedatives and as a result, she could not defend herself.
However, she managed to reach the call button, but nobody came to her rescue. Later on, during the police investigation, it was discovered that the button was disconnected.
The doctor was detained by authorities in 2017 after a volume of evidence was gathered, including a DNA test.
The disgraced medic was found guilty for his deed, but the jury advised for the verdict to be ten years of probation instead of time in prison.
Moreover, the court opted to waive the $10,000 fine. Many claim this is an insult to the victim.
Activists hope that this case can be used to protect future victims and are urging political leaders in Texas to change the laws that were put in place in 2003 to more or less give government immunity to private doctors working at public hospitals.
