ALLEGED VICTIMS TELL THEIR STORIES

Des Moines Register articles allege secrets, excuses, barriers to justice in sex abuse allegations against Dr. Fung

    HARLAN – An article in the Harlan Tribune back in 2014 outlining sexual abuse allegations against former Harlan physician Dr. Wing-Tai Fung laid the foundation for an alleged abuse victim to come forward and share her story, outlined in a four-piece exposé appearing in The Des Moines Register this past week.
    Former Harlanite Lori (Brandsma) Minor, 53, now of Kalona and a nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals, related her story along with one other abuse victim, Wenday Cooper, now 44, in the in-depth articles written by opinion columnist Rekha Basu.  Cooper teaches human services and addiction studies at Iowa Western Community College.
    Reading that initial article in the online version of the Harlan newspaper brought back a flood of memories, said Minor in the articles, of the alleged abuse she said she suffered at the hands of Fung in 1979 when she was 15 years old.
    Fung, now 85 years old, would later plead guilty in 2015 to assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and indecent contact with a 10-year-old patient.  He is now on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry.  In Minor’s case, there were no criminal charges due to the statute of limitations, but it was just the beginning for Minor, who spent the next four years deciding how best to seek justice, and to be able to share her story.
    She eventually filed a civil lawsuit against Fung, that was settled in October, 2017.  Terms of the settlement were undisclosed, but the article stated she refused to sign a confidentiality statement, which would have prevented her story from being told.
    The Register articles paint a picture of sexual abuse allegations against Fung, who worked in Harlan from 1971-2008, that stayed secret for decades, and a staff that defended him.  Upwards of 17 victims may have come forward to law enforcement with allegations over the 37 years Fung doctored in Harlan, the Register reports.  The articles allege that patients of Fung faced barriers to justice, and that nurses and colleagues made excuses for the doctor.
    It’s alleged the abuses could have spanned 30 years.
    The exposé features graphic testimony from the alleged victims, and comments from depositions and interviews of hospital staff and nurses, as well as law enforcement.  Among those locals featured or named in the article are Harlan Police Chief Frank Clark, Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputy Donovan Dontje, Myrtue Medical Center CEO Barry Jacobsen, nurses Cheryl Burchett and Maxine Kwapiszeski, Dr. Roger Davidson, county attorney Marcus Gross, Jr., and  Shelby County District Court Judge Kathleen Kilnoski.
 

 
 

 

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