"I Need Oxygen!"

Hearing this from a hotel guest, I know that (a) the guest is short of breath and (b) the guest probably doesn’t need oxygen – unless everyone in the room is short of breath in which case this is not a medical problem.

If you suffer an illness that produces shortness of breath such as asthma or heart failure breathing oxygen will not help much. Other treatments work much faster. If you have obstructive lung disease and become short of breath you certainly need oxygen, but you’re an emergency. Call the paramedics. All these problems require lengthy observation until symptoms improve, so making a housecall is a bad idea.

Anxiety is the leading cause of shortness of breath in a hotel guest. This is never fatal, and I have good success treating it, but making a housecall is risky. Between the time I hang up and arrive, many guests recover and cancel or leave the room and hide out until certain that I have come and gone.