I have noticed similar issues but I don't think you would have "died on the ER waiting room floor": if you were in for dehydration then you were treated as such

I have noticed similar issues but I don't think you would have "died on the ER waiting room floor": if you were in for dehydration then you were treated as such, i.e. low priority. That's really all there is to it. Sometimes people are misdiagnosed and that's when there really is a problem, but that's independent of the country, and Doctors do everything they can to make sure this does not happen. In most of Europe you go to the hospital to be treated, your comfort is really considered secondary unless you are in very bad health. The stinky guy next to you had the same rights that you do, but the system is such that you both should be treated equally and given proper care. The system is not perfect but it does its best to follow these principles.