For All the Gomers of the World

One of my male acquaintances recently made a shocking statement in a group setting. The subject of discussion at the time was the biblical book of Hosea. Hosea was the minor prophet, you remember, who married a prostitute. Her name was Gomer. Evidently, he was following God's command to do so since their marriage would be used as an analogy of Israel's unfaithfulness to God to parallel Gomer's unfaithfulness to her husband. My friend, who is a doctor, said, "In the hospital we used to have a name for people like this. We called them "Gomers," and we meant, "Get out of my emergency room." I have to admit I was shocked since we usually have an idealistic view of doctors, believing them to be full agents of healing, and also non-discriminatory. "Who are the Gomers of the world?" I wondered.

My conclusion is that they are the poor and uninsured who have no other choice but to visit an emergency room at the time of a health crisis. Likely, these "Gomers" have had a long history of sexual partners and a number of children. Because of their poverty, they have neglected to get the gyn examinations and breast mammograms the American Medical Association recommends each year. They come to the emergency room as a last resort, not first, because they can no longer bear the pain they are experiencing.

I long for a future in which truly there would be no discrimination against those who have had few choices in life for good health care. As I was growing up, my waitress mother insisted on carrying a small Blue Cross Blue Shield policy for her, my sister, and me to ensure there would be some payment at least to the hospital in the event of a health crisis. I had occasion to use the policy as a sixteen-year-old when I went in for an emergency appendectomy. Since I was white, though poor, with no previous sexual history I am not exactly sure how the doctors referred to me. I can only hope it was not through the pejorative term "Gomer."

For all the Gomers of the world still out there, we must continue to seek universal health care that will cover all people and not discriminate against those who need it the most. Let us consider the proposed health care plans of our presidential candidates carefully.