The assault took place in 2013 at Ben Taub General Hospital, where the victim, a 27-year-old woman, was being treated for a severe asthma attack. The victim, identified by local media as Laura, said she was in and out of consciousness after being sedated when a male doctor came into her room.

Laura told her story to the Houston Chronicle in 2015, and she also recounted the attack in a lawsuit against the hospital. According to Laura, Sheikh came into her room and told her he needed to examine her chest. He then touched her breast and vagina, and she told the Chronicle she knew she was being attacked.

Laura frantically tried to use her bedside call button to summon a nurse to the room, but it was disconnected. Sheikh left her room, then came back and repeated his behavior. He came back a third time and raped her.