How long after the initial symptoms would a pulmonary embolism cause serious problems?

I am doing an essay on 'sudden death' (cheerful, eh?) and am looking for info on pulmonary embolisms / infarction

Could anyone tell me how long after initial symptoms (pleuritic chest pain / cough etc) someone wouyld expect to go before hospitalisation is required ? Do PEs come on over time or are they sudden ???

A Pulmonary Embolism would cause immediate problems. Depending on the type of emboli. How about this:
At 2:01 pm a person throws a PE to the lung:
2:02
1. Short of Breath
2. O2 Saturation Drops
3. Unable to get oxygen into the system
4. Hypoxiema
5. Tachycardia
6. Someone had better dial 911 or this person is going to be shaking hands with St. Peter.

Time 2:10

7. Cardiac Arrest

All right sometimes it is not that dramatic. But on Sunday, I had a patient do just that. Lucky for us he was already on life support and we were able to treat. So sometimes it does go that fast and sometimes it depends on just a lot of other things like:

Is the person previously healthy with no lung disease? Then they have a better chance than someone who has extensive lung disease.

What is the person's age? Why did they throw the PE? All of these things come into play.

27.8 seconds later

my mother was admitted to hospital on the friday with COPD related chest and breathing problems
and the following monday morning went for an examination where a camera is inserted in a vein or artery in the leg and pushed up to the heart ,all went quite well,she was returned to her ward and soon afterwards suffered a PE it completely blocked her heart and she died very suddenly there and then!
Also beforehand she was given a inhaler at the doctors called something like sevastin ,she said it made her feel more ill than ever,after her passing away i looked up this product on the net and a health organisation in america want it banned because it causes sudden deaths mainly through p embolisms ?good luck with your research
if you would like any more information you think i may be able to help you with dont hesitate to email me