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 she 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.

The jury returned a narrative verdict and referred to a discrepancy in Dr Sheik’s account of the length of time he had spent observing Ms Speck.

Dr Sheik subsequently referred himself to the General Medical Council - the public body holding doctors to account.

The tribunal cleared Dr Sheik of being dishonest and misleading during the inquest. However, it said that because the misconduct was “so serious and breached a fundamental tenet of the profession” a suspension was appropriate.