A North Texas woman who is permanently disabled after suffering a stroke says her emergency room wait led to worse problems.

Felicia Steele said she lost more and more of her brain as she waited for two hours at the Methodist Charlton Medical Center in Dallas.

While making a pot of coffee and lifting her grandchild were previously simple tasks for Steele, she said they are now small victories since her stroke left her disabled.

"We used to go dancing," Steele said as tears streamed down her face.

In February of 2006, Steele had a stroke and lost partial use of the right side of her body.

"I just wiggle down the walkway instead of strut," she said.

However, Steele and her husband, Russell, said her problems never should have gotten this bad.

Though there's no documentation available to verify their claim, the couple maintains Steele rushed to the emergency room at the Dallas hospital within 45 minutes of the onset of her stroke symptoms.

"And I explained to them the symptoms she was having, which I felt may have been stroke-like symptoms, and they said have a seat," Mr. Steele said.

That's when the Steeles said their wait began.

"I was getting angrier and angrier and more frustrated and more frustrated," Mr. Steele said.

Eventually, Mr. Steele took his wife to another ER, but by then, the Steeles said too much time had passed.

"Every ten minutes that pass, millions of brain cells die and that's why it's absolutely critical that you determine whether someone's eligible for the clot-busting medications," said Dr. Lise Labiche, who has no connection to the case, but is the stroke program director at Dallas Neuro-Stroke Affiliates.

For eligible patients, Dr. Labiche said TPA, a clot-dissolving drug, must be administered within three hours of a stroke. She said that rarely happens, though.

"Less than three percent of stroke patients receive TPA treatment," she said.

While chances of receiving the treatment go up at hospitals certified as stroke centers, there are currently only a handful that exist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

But Dr Labiche said that regardless of where one goes, it's important to clearly communicate stroke symptoms to the ER staff.

Meanwhile, the Steeles are suing the hospital.

A Methodist Charlton spokesperson declined an interview, citing the lawsuit and patient privacy.

"I can tell you that Methodist Health System is committed to providing safe, quality health care and continually working to improve that care," read a statement from the spokesperson.

In court filing, the hospital's attorney denied the couple's allegations, saying they "failed to exercise ordinary care for their own safety."

The warning signs of stroke include the sudden onset of any of symptoms that include, numbness-weakness, confusion, trouble seeing, trouble walking and severe headache.

E-mail chawes@wfaa.com