Finkel Trial: Assistant Quit Over Finkel’s Conduct
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 27, 2003
Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) — As the sexual abuse trial of abortion practitioner Brian Finkel continues, a woman who worked as one of his medical assistants says she quit her job at the abortion facility in large part because of Finkel’s conduct.
Dawn Normoyle, 35, said she smacked Finkel on the arm once and told him to stop touching the private parts of a woman during an exam.
"It didn’t seem like it was right," Normoyle told the jury, but "he told me that’s how he does pelvic exams." Now living in Florida, she worked for Finkel in 1994 and 1995.
Normoyle first met Finkel when she went to him to obtain an abortion. According to the East Valley Tribune, she said he examined her after she quit her job and she asked him not to touch her the way he touched other patients. She says Finkel obeyed the request.
Thirty-five women have said Finkel fondled their breasts or genitals during exams or abortions. Finkel is being charged with 67 counts of abuse.
Defense attorney Richard Gierloff defended Finkel’s actions and said they were "medically proper." He cross-examined Normoyle for about an hour Monday.
Normoyle said she never reported the incidents because she wasn’t sure whether what Finkel did was legally or medically improper.
