A cardiologist practicing in San Jose and Gilroy lost his medical license for two months and is on probation until 2032 after the Medical Board of California found he had inappropriately touched a female patient seeking care for heart issues.
The patient said Dr. Mohammed Habeeb Ahmed asked her about her sexual activity, complimented her breasts, and then squeezed them when she stood up to leave during an examination at a medical office in Gilroy in 2021, according to the medical board’s investigation.
The medical board revoked Ahmed’s license to practice medicine for two months earlier this year and ordered him to have a chaperone monitor his appointments with female patients. The board also required him to complete an ethics course and a program about professional boundaries, and pay $30,000 for its multi-year investigation.
The Medical Board of California is charged with protecting patients by regulating doctors and surgeons. The board has 15 members — eight doctors and seven other members of the public — and most are appointed by the governor’s office.
It’s relatively rare for the medical board to suspend a doctor’s license after its lengthy investigations process. Between July 2024 and July 2025, the board received about 9,700 complaints about doctors and surgeons, according to its annual report, and investigated about 1,000. Of those, 116 resulted in a suspended license to practice medicine — either with probation or without terms — and 24 licenses were revoked outright.
The board’s investigation of Ahmed found “clear and convincing evidence to a reasonable certainty” of sexual misconduct. It also found that the doctor had acted dishonestly and negligently.
Ahmed did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment. During the medical board’s investigation, he denied any sexual misconduct. His attorney, Nick Jurkowitz, told Bay Area News Group that Ahmed continues to deny the patient’s allegations. In March, Ahmed filed an appeal of the medical board’s decision in Sacramento County Superior Court. That appeal is pending.
Ahmed is currently practicing medicine and is in “full compliance” with the terms of the probation, said Jurkowitz, a Los-Angeles based attorney.
“We are hopeful that a superior (court) judge reviewing the entirety of the case will overturn the Medical Board’s discipline,” he said in an email.
Ahmed graduated from medical school in India, completed fellowships in the U.S. and started a private practice in cardiology in 2005 in San Jose, according to the medical board.
The medical board said the patient first saw Ahmed in 2019 after experiencing heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath and dizziness. In May 2021, Ahmed met with the patient alone at his Gilroy office, and she testified that she was “shocked” by his actions in the examination room, which felt “disgusting.” Afterward, he told her to “have a nice day” and to make another appointment, she said.
The patient told the board she spoke about the doctor’s behavior with a Gilroy police officer, but didn’t file charges.
In his defense, Ahmed denied the allegations and told the board that he was a religious leader and a father. The board’s report described him as a community leader at his mosque and a Muslim religious scholar.
The medical board, in its judgement, noted that all but one of Ahmed’s witnesses were employees at his clinics who depended on him “for their livelihood.” And his “impressive medical credentials and status as a family man and religious scholar do not weigh heavily in determining the credibility of his denial,” the report said.
Jurkowitz, Ahmed’s attorney, said he “had never been accused of anything like this in the past.” California’s medical licensee lookup portal showed no records of other disciplinary actions, court orders, criminal convictions, malpractice judgements or malpractice settlements.
The patient asked for the minimum amount of discipline for Ahmed under the board’s guidelines, which the board ultimately granted.