10 Things You Didn't Know About Regina Benjamin

Reader Comments
Back to article

I found Dr. Benjamin in the mid nineties working at a medical practice in Spanish Fort, Al. after I moved to that area with two teenage daughters. I was really pleased with her as a doctor and as a person. And very disappointed when she quit the practice to work full time at the Bayoy la Batre Clinic. I wonder why it's never mentioned that she practiced medicine in Spanish Ft., Al??

G. Buck of AL 7:50AM January 11, 2010

Dr. Benjamin has used our community of Bayou La Batre to promote her phony career for the last decade or more. I have documented one of the time periods that she has received world wide acclaim for being the single provider of health care for our citizens, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which struck BLB on August 29, 2005. As you can see from my daily log in my FACT SHEET, Dr. Benjamin was not present in her clinic for 90% of the time from Nov, 2005 thru Jan, 2007. This was the same pattern during the period Sep and Oct, 2005, but I did not realize that it would continue for another year and a half that I maintained a daily written log of her presences.
As a retired United States Regular Army Officer, I am astonished that something like this could lead to her appointment as the future Surgeon General. My life has been saved twice by honorable Medical Doctors and Dr. Benjamin is not in their class. I urge you and other members of the HELP Committee to do what you can to expose this fraud and stop her nomination to the position of our country's top doctor, the Surgeon General of the United States.
Sincerely yours,
LTC (ret) United States Army

Nicholas Jongebloed of AL 12:18PM September 06, 2009

I want to compliment Dr. Benjamin on this accomplishment. I saw a documentary about her a long time ago, and I came to the conclusion that she is a doctor because she loves mankind. Let's ignore all these ridiculous comments because there are so many people out there who would not know what the word "love" means if it lit on their foreheads. Congratulations, Dr. Benjamin! I am behind you all the way!!!

A Varnado of SC 3:11AM August 05, 2009

Doctors
Yes all you Doctors are GODS (in your own minds, delusional). A fats a$$ is a fat A$$. And it IS a symptom of MENTAL SICKNESS!
(correct typo)

Gary Calhoun of MI 1:14AM August 05, 2009

Yes all you Doctors are GODS (in your own minds). A fats a$$ is a fat A$$. And it IS a symptom of MENTAL SICKS!

Gary Calhoun of MI 1:06AM August 05, 2009

I had an amazing opportunity to work with Dr. Benjamin in a hurricane relief project after Katrina in Bayou La Batre, AL and I've never met an American doctor more dedicated to serving her patients. She has a passion for her work, is truly a compassionate person, and would be an excellent surgeon general. I commend her with many many praises and am grateful to see someone who is so caring.

Molly of MT 8:00PM August 03, 2009

Reading the comments on this page are shocking! First, as an internal medicine physician, I would like to educate that morbid obesity is defined as a BMI>35 and I think it is ignorant to look at Dr. Benjamin's picture and call her morbidly obese so please get your facts right before commenting. Yes, she is definitely overweight and may be in the obesity category but does anyone who commented actually know her diet, exercise and lifestyle habits? Perhaps, she actually leads a healthy lifestyle but still struggles with her weight like so many of my black AND white patients which likely relates to genetics (and you can't change those) in which case would make her a better surgeon general if she can relate to the average American. Secondly, I find it quite interesting that because Pres Obama is black and he picks a few people of color for his cabinet, people think that he is picking them for the color of their skin. Could it be the opposite, that now more qualified people of color are actually offered positions because they are no longer overlooked because of the color of their skin? I do not know Dr. Benjamin personally but I know that anyone who has as much drive and compassion as it appears she has from reading her story, probably has the type of stamina one would need to tackle a job such as Surgeon General.

MindfulMD of MN 9:29AM August 02, 2009

Race should not be a factor but I see that the president is on a rampage to appoint black people to post in the government. I have been living in the US for 20 years now, work with black people, and love them, but I am not blind to what is going on in this country. I have experiences a lot of racism agianst me from the black individual that I cannot even begin to tell you.
It's sad that this president when chooses looks first for the skip color of a person. I have seen it many times now.

Ian of TX 8:51PM July 30, 2009

There's a lot of bigots in this country, it's sad to say that racism is not dead just listen to Lou Dobbs or Rush Limbaugh and just about anyone on FOX or CNN and then realize that THOSE people have an audience which is truly very sad. Her critics as you'll see will be mostly white men and women. Especially old white men because they're not the ones in power and skinny white women who wear too much makeup to hide their bulemia. I'm white and born and raised in New England, I wasn't raised to be a bigot but the reality of this nation is that there are still people out there who can see a person for who and what they are all they can see is sexual orientation or skin color or religious differences and we're supposed to be the most progressive and tolerant nation on the earth, damn you could have fooled me.

DavidBronx of NY 2:55PM July 30, 2009