for 9 MAY 06: BUFFONG AS IN WRONG

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: We're suspending all jokes for the day, because of the nature of today's topic -- and it's a topic which may be too sensitive for some members of the family to read.)

"I put him in his place," the woman told me about her first meeting with then-doctor Eric Buffong several years ago. But it was clear from her comments Monday that she doesn't believe Buffong is in the right place now - as in outside prison.

Your blog talked Monday to a woman who claims Eric Buffong raped her in his Talbotton Road office. "I'll call it a rape until Jesus comes," said the woman we'll call Gina (she does NOT want her real name used). It's officially sexual battery, due to one of the most controversial plea bargains Columbus has seen in years -- and Buffong pleaded no contest to it, instead of guilty.

Gina says she first went to Eric Buffong's gynecologist office "by default," because she had a dispute with another doctor over a $250 bill. She describes Buffong as being "fresh" at her first appointment - but Gina felt she had to keep seeing him because she had an "abnormal pap."

Gina became increasingly uncomfortable with Buffong, because of the way she handled her intimate parts during breast exams. She explained the doctor "manipulated it to excrete milk" -- and told her if it was possible, it was "a procedure he wanted to patent. He told a lot of lies." For instance, she now believes Buffong actually borrowed from an African procedure.

We technically cannot call him DOCTOR Eric Buffong today, because the 29-year medical veteran lost that title at the start of this year. The Georgia Board of Medical Examiners' web site shows his license was suspended in August 2004. It was not only because of a pair of arrests for sex crimes -- but an allegation of sexual battery from 1997, in North Carolina.

At the end of 2005, Buffong's medical license in Georgia "lapsed" - apparently meaning it expired, with no effort to renew it. But Gina told the blog Buffong is trying to regain a medical license in a northern state. The process there is on hold, Gina claims, pending a review of what happened in Georgia.

Eric Buffong was placed on two years' probation and barred from medical practice in April. So what is he doing now? Gina claims to know - and says he's on the road hocking the health benefits of "Tahitian noni juice," while still claiming to be a physician. He reportedly even made an appearance at a Baptist church in the Midwest.

It was clear from our conversation that Gina is watching Buffong very closely. But at this point, she has NOT filed a civil suit against him. "If I could find an attorney, I'd do it in a heartbeat," Gina says - but adds no Columbus attorney will touch her case. Apparently rape cases are exempt from insurance claims.

So with no civil suit pending, why would Gina contact this blog? She gave me several reasons:

+ She says women need to know they can go to the Board of Medical Examiners' web site (linked above) to file complaints against abusive doctors.

+ She says her story needs to be told as widely as possible. An interview with Gina appeared on WRBL last week, but she's concerned it aired too late at night for many people to watch.

+ She seems especially concerned Eric Buffong might practice medicine again someday, somewhere.

Gina has a seven-year-old child, who knows a little bit about what Eric Buffong was accused of doing. Because of that, Gina says they talk about the case only as the "capital R." She might not mind if Buffong fled to a place with a capital R - like Rwanda, instead of Russell County.

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