State board suspends medical license of Einstein resident accused of violent threats, assault

A state medical board suspended the medical license of a Philadelphia-based physician last month, saying he posed an immediate danger to public health and safety, state records show.

Tarik Zeid, 32, is accused of assaulting a woman in his apartment, telling her that he has killed people, and saying his preferred weapon was a sniper rifle. The woman later told police that Zeid demanded sex, and choked her when she refused him, law enforcement records show.

Zeid, a doctor completing his training in psychiatry, was arrested in December and charged with aggravated indecent assault, strangulation, terroristic threats, and related crimes. He is awaiting trial with his next court hearing scheduled for June.

Zeid’s lawyer, John Rooney, declined to comment last week. The Inquirer attempted to reach Zeid directly but was unsuccessful.

» READ MORE: State board suspends license of Montco physician charged with attempted murder and arson

Zeid was in the middle of his fourth and final year of a psychiatry residency at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital at the time of his arrest. He has not worked with Jefferson patients since, health system spokesperson Damien Woods said.

“He is no longer employed by or affiliated with Jefferson,” Woods said in a statement.

In December, a woman told police Zeid assaulted her in his Center City apartment.

She said she and Zeid knew each other for about a month. On the night of Dec. 5, she said, they had sex and watched a movie in his apartment.

Zeid said he hurt people in his previous job and that he once killed someone like her, the woman told detectives. He also told her he preferred to kill people with a sniper rifle, and that he would lose his medical license if anyone found out, she said.

» READ MORE: Pa. suspended a weight-loss doctor who performed intimate exams on women. He still sees patients in Brooklyn.

When the woman attempted to leave, Zeid restrained her, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her to the bed, she told police.

Zeid then said “I killed seven people like this,” according to the police report. The Inquirer found no record of murder charges against him.

The woman told detectives she refused his repeated requests for sex.

Zeid posted a $10,000 bond in February to secure bail and get out of jail, court records show.

The disciplinary process against physicians can take years. State law allows boards to issue temporary suspensions of licenses when a person is “an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety.”

Zeid’s suspension took effect on March 22.

He is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, or a DO, a type of physician who is licensed to practice medicine. The Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine used the same expedited process earlier this year to suspended Amy Cohen, a Narberth- based physician who was charged with attempted murder last December after police said she attempted to set fire to her ex-boyfriend’s grandmother’s house.

Zeid was licensed as a “graduate medical trainee.” If convicted of indecent assault, a sexual offense, he would be ineligible to renew that license.