GOMER

A GOMER (commonly Gomer or Gomere) is a medical slang term for a patient in a hospital who is demented (and not fully conscious) or bordering on death, hence taking up room unnecessarily in the hospital. Doctors and nurses may feel that they shouldn't receive life prolonging treatments anymore and should just be allowed to die peacefully.

Origins and etymology

"Gomer" stands for Get Out of My Emergency Room, reflecting the annoyance of the doctors. It first appeared in widespread print in the medical novel The House of God by Samuel Shem, and was used mostly in the 1980s and 1990s. It is still used today, although many medical professionals find it disrespectful and unprofessional. The term has been used several times in the television show Scrubs: in the pilot, My First Day, in 2003 in Season 3's fifth episode My Brother, Where Art Thou? to describe an old demented patient who could only say one word, and again in My Dumb Luck to describe geriatric patients. ER has also used the term.

External links

• Gomer on WorldWideWords
• "The House of God" book information

Use in a sentence

"I really do not feel like treating the two Gomers in the E.R."

"Law number One: GOMERS DON'T DIE." "Law number Two: GOMERS GO TO GROUND." (From The House of God)