A jury convicted a Maryland doctor of raping two patients in the exam room.
Dr. Ishtiaq Malik worked at Advanced Walk-in Urgent Care in Silver Spring when the sexual assaults occurred, prosecutors say.
He locked the exam room doors, made the women take off their clothes, didn't give them gowns to cover themselves, and then groped and assaulted them, prosecutors say.
One of the victims testified Tuesday Malik groped her in multiple private areas while he was visibly aroused. She said she was shocked and didn’t know what to do. She said she cried in her car after the assault.
Malik's defense attorney argued all his actions were medically necessary, and that he had done a genitourinary exam because the patient needed to be cleared for an upcoming Brazilian butt lift procedure.
Malik showed no visible reaction when the verdict was read after less than three hours of deliberation.
“I’m happy for the victims in this case,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “It takes a lot of courage to come forward and do this. These are tough cases. Tough cases, tough testimony. And again, I want to salute the bravery of the women who came forward and reported what happened to them, and came in here and told the ladies and gentleman of this jury what happened during the course of the trial.
U.S. & World
"And I want to thank the members of the jury for their arrival at what we think is an accurate verdict completely supported by the evidence in this case,” McCarthy said.
Malik goes on trial again next week on another 22 charges for allegedly sexually assaulting and harassing another eight patients.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
In 2013, Malik was sued for health care fraud by the Department of Justice and ordered to pay $17 million.
In 2019, the Maryland State Board of Physicians suspended his medical license because he was convicted of failure to pay child support.
Malik faces a maximum of 42 years in prison at sentencing in April.
