A DOCTOR who failed to properly examine a mentally ill patient who later collapsed in a police cell and died has been suspended for two months.

Dr Mohamed Sheik was a forensic medical examiner for MEDACS when North Yorkshire Police asked him to assess Toni Speck in custody at Fulford Road Police Station, York, on June 2, 2011.

During a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing in Manchester the York doctor admitted he had not taken steps to establish a doctor-patient relationship, did not alert staff about the necessity for observations and did not carry out “baseline observations” when he was called into the station more than six years ago.

The hearing was told that when Dr Sheik arrived he did not go into the cell to examine Ms Speck, but instead looked through her cell hatch.

Around 90 minutes later Ms Speck collapsed and was taken to York Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

An inquest, held in York two years ago, found Ms Speck was suffering from serotonin syndrome - a rare brain condition, which led to her having a cardiac arrest.

Dr Sheik told the inquest he had observed her from outside the cell for between five and 10 minutes, however, CCTV footage revealed he had only opened the cell hatch for approximately seven seconds.

The jury returned a narrative verdict and referred to this discrepancy, and Dr Sheik subsequently referred himself to the General Medical Council - the public body holding doctors to account.

The jury at the inquest concluded that Ms Speck was suffering from a rare and difficult to diagnose medical condition which caused her death, and concluded that neither the detaining officers nor the custody officer should have recognised that Ms Speck needed to be taken to Accident & Emergency for emergency medical treatment.

The tribunal cleared Dr Sheik of being dishonest and misleading during the inquest, and said he had not lied about how long he had observed Ms Speck when he gave evidence, but that he had been under stress in the hearing and had “made a guess” at how long he had spent observing her.

The tribunal, held last month, concluded: “You (Dr Sheik) displayed an isolated error of judgement in an otherwise unblemished career and have continued to practise without cause for concern.”

However, it said that because the misconduct was “so serious and breached a fundamental tenet of the profession” a suspension was appropriate.

Michaela Peters, Ms Speck’s sister, today said she was glad Dr Sheik had been suspended.

She said: “We are glad something came out of this and happy people are aware of what’s going on.

“The doctor didn’t have a blemish on his record before this and I’m sure he will have taken it onboard and what happened will have stayed with him."

North Yorkshire Police declined to comment and MEDACS was unavailable for comment.