Health, Injuries & the Hospital
Getting hurt in Night City is more than a health bar. Every hit leaves a wound on a part of your body: gunshots, stab wounds, cuts, broken bones, burns, and sometimes internal bleeding you can't see. Open wounds bleed, and when your blood runs low you collapse. Medics treat each wound one by one, and the hospital deals with what can't be fixed on the street. What happens when you go down (the timer, calling for help, respawning) is in Getting hurt and respawning.
What hurt you decides the damage. Body armour turns most bullets to the chest into bruises. A seatbelt makes a crash count as slower. A long fall breaks legs, and a fast crash or being hit by a car can leave internal injuries. This guide is the patient's side. Working as a medic is in EMS & Hospital Work.
When you go down
Going down, the timer, calling for help with G, CPR from other players and respawning are all explained in Getting hurt and respawning. While you are down, your wounds stay with you: a medic who reaches you treats them one by one and gets you back on your feet where you are - no bill, no lost items.
- When a medic starts treating you, you get a message with their name.
- A medic may ask you questions (name, what happened, pain...). Answer in the popup, or type your own answer.
- If your respawn timer runs out first, the ambulance takes you to hospital as usual and your injuries are treated there.
Getting help from other players
- Anyone can give you CPR (hold E, see Getting hurt and respawning).
- G next to a downed person carries them. With them on your shoulder, E next to a car puts them in a seat. G puts them down again. Next to a car, G pulls a downed person out of it.
Checking in at the hospital
- Walk up to the reception desk and press E → Check in. If you are carrying someone, this checks them in.
- Medics on duty: they are paged, you get a ticket number and, if one is free, your own bed: a red marker, a GPS route and "YOUR BED" text show you where. The waiting-room TV shows the queue.
- Lie down with E at your bed and wait for a medic. Only you can use a bed assigned to you. Leave it unused for about ten minutes and it goes back to the pool.
- No medics on duty: the NPC doctor walks you to a free bed (or carries you if you are down) and treats you step by step. You are billed for each treatment.
- Get up with X once you are allowed to.
If nothing is wrong with you, the receptionist sends you away.
Sandy Shores Medical Center: up north, walk to the medical building on the street in Sandy Shores and press E → Enter Sandy Shores Medical Center. Reception is right inside. Press E at the door to leave again.
Grandma Rosa (far from the hospitals)
Grandma Rosa lives by the El Gordo lighthouse on the far north-east coast (her blip is on the map). She patches people up for $1,500. She takes cash first, then bank.
- You are hurt: press E next to her → Get patched up. She heals every injury.
- Someone is down: carry them to her (G), then press E → Hand them to Grandma Rosa. The carrier pays.
- You are down near her: if you go down close to her, she walks over and helps you on her own. You pay.
She only helps when no EMS are on duty, or when her spot is outside the EMS service area (it is by default). She helps each person once every 10 minutes. If she can't finish (for example, you are moved away), you get your money back.
Staff can move her or turn her off in F9 → World Spawns ("Grandma Rosa").
Discharge and the bill
- A doctor discharges you from the bed. They choose a full recovery, or a recovery period where your cast stays on, sometimes with crutches or a wheelchair, until it runs out.
- The bill is itemised: every treatment step done on you has a price set by that hospital. Your health insurance pays its share and the rest comes out of your bank. You get a receipt on screen.
Your condition
| Condition | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Down, badly hurt and bleeding | Call for help with G, wait for EMS (see Getting hurt and respawning) |
| Cardiac arrest | Blood ran too low and the heart stopped | Needs CPR and a defibrillator from a medic |
| Stabilized | A medic stopped the bleeding | Wait for the medic to finish. If you don't reach a hospital bed in time, it wears off and you crash again |
After a medic gets you back on your feet you can't shoot or fight for a few minutes. Police and EMS on duty are exempt.
Injuries while you walk around
You don't have to be down to be hurt. Untreated wounds keep working on you:
- Bleeding wounds drain your blood slowly. Below a certain level you collapse. A bleeding wound left alone gets worse over time.
- Leg wounds make you limp and stop you sprinting. A broken leg also stops you jumping until it is splinted.
- Arm wounds make your aim shake.
- Pain blurs your screen and shakes the camera. Blood loss drains the colour from your screen, makes you dizzy and can make you black out for a moment. You hear your heartbeat when it gets bad.
- Hidden injuries (internal bleeding, hairline fractures) only show on an X-ray or MRI. If you keep feeling worse after a crash or a long fall, go to the hospital.
After a medic helps you back up, or once you have treated every wound yourself, the rest heals by itself after a while. Casts and surgery are hospital-only, so fractures and deep bullet wounds still deserve a hospital visit.
Treating yourself
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bandage | Closes one light bleed and heals a little |
| First Aid | Closes every light or heavy bleed and heals more |
| ifaks | Closes light and heavy bleeds, heals, eases pain and stress |
| Gold Trauma Kit | Like an IFAK but stronger: closes light and heavy bleeds, heals more, eases pain and stress (Night City Gold Drop, battle pass) |
| Stim Shot | A quick shot that heals you - does not stop bleeding (Night City Gold Drop, battle pass) |
| Painkillers | Eases pain for a few minutes |
| Cold Medicine | Cures the flu |
| Antibiotics | Cures food poisoning and wound infections |
Pharmacies also sell medicine that eases pain or pauses illness symptoms, and fill the prescriptions hospital doctors write. See Pharmacy.
Self-treatment can't close a gunshot wound, set a bone or stop arterial bleeding. Those need a medic.
Illness
| Illness | How you catch it | Cure |
|---|---|---|
| Flu | Spending time outside in cold weather without a jacket | Cold Medicine |
| Food poisoning | Now and then from a meal | Antibiotics |
| Wound infection | Leaving an open wound untreated too long | Antibiotics |
You get a message when you feel unwell, then symptoms (coughing, vomiting, fever) every so often. A medic who examines you spots the illness too.
Hospital kiosk
Press E at a Hospital kiosk to:
- Buy health insurance. Pick an insurer and a plan. One payment covers a week and it renews from your bank if you leave auto-renew on. It covers part of your hospital bills and part of your pharmacy prescriptions. Some employers also give their staff health cover.
- Book an appointment with a hospital.
- Send a form (for example a complaint) or apply for a job at the hospital.
- Donate blood when you are healthy. It takes a moment, pays you, and you can donate again after a couple of hours.
Addiction and withdrawal
Nicotine, alcohol, weed, ketamine and opioids can all hook you. A few doses spread over a day do nothing. Using a lot in a short time builds an addiction, and about an hour after your last dose the cravings start:
- Mild cravings: messages, stress building up, waves of camera shake.
- Heavy cravings: all of that plus screen blur, shaky aim and getting hungry faster.
Another dose stops the craving for now but deepens the habit. Staying clean wears even a heavy addiction off in about two days.
| Help | What it does |
|---|---|
| Frostbite Mint Gum and other gum | Chew for a few minutes. Strong relief for nicotine, a little for everything else. 7 blows a bubble, 8 spits it out, 9 takes it out to finish later |
| QuitPal Nicotine Patches | Eases nicotine cravings for a few hours |
Both are sold at pharmacies (Pharmacy).
Costs & rewards
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Respawning at the hospital | See Getting hurt and respawning |
| Being treated and helped up by EMS on the street | Free |
| Hospital treatment | Itemised bill, set by each hospital, minus your insurance |
| Health insurance | Weekly, set by each hospital (typical plans cover 40%, 70% or 100%) |
| Blood donation | The hospital pays you |
Bills are taken from your bank first, then your cash.
Lost your things to a bug or rule-breaking? Open a ticket (see Support Tickets). Staff can refund what a hospital respawn took from you. Refunded items that don't fit in your pockets wait for you: type /refunds.
Thanks! Staff will look at it.