RRU, I had the same thing happen to me. I went in to the er because I couldn't breathe. My vitals were all good (100% O2 sats) so they had me sit in the waiting room for 5hours! When I told them that I was starting to get really dizzy and that my hands were going numb, they offered me a wheelchair. I had a hard time breathing for several days before I finally went in. Had bloodwork, chest x-ray, etc all came back normal. The entire time I was in the ER, I had my vitals checked once, and that was in triage. When I followed up with my GP, she had me call my pdoc who prescribed .5mg Ativan for me. I don't take it every day, but it does help when I need it. I really didn't know what was my problem. I had had anxiety attacks before, but never to the point of not being able to breathe. Very scary.

I don't think the size of the hospital matters as to the treatment you recieve. If the staff doesn't know how to deal with the symptoms, the patient doesn't get the correct treatment.