---
# System prepended metadata

title: 'MEDICAL EMERGENCIES *weeoo weeoo :ambulance:*'

---

# MEDICAL EMERGENCIES *weeoo weeoo :ambulance:*

Hello all


Medical emergencies will be a new class of datums/interactions that will allow more granular medical injuries that represent more than just the accumulation of damage, like breaking bones or searing skin infections. Broadly, they'll be extra complications that can be solved in one of three main ways (mirroring cobbychem's focus on categories, though heck if i can remember what those categories mean other than cat 3 meaning eating a rat dipped in welding fuel). Their functionalities would require a bit of expansion/refactoring of limb (and maybe organ?) code to allow different levels of efficiency (broken arms would have longer cooldowns and delays for interactions, broken legs may leave you with a limp or pain while moving, severely burned limbs would breed infections that would rot your flesh and also cause extra damage when hurt), as well as the introduction of the titular "Medical Emergency" datum, which would function as a mixture of diseases and components (being included in the patient's life tick processing like diseases, and using signals to listen for and add extra interactions to actions involving the affected limb like a component would). 

A medical emergency would be something general like "dislocated bone", "severe compound fracture", or "severe/second degree burn", and would contain appropriate code for affecting any limb it might be attached to (like a component). I imagine there would be 3 layers of severity (moderate, severe, and critical, detailed below), with dismemberment remaining as a "4th" level of severity that would be unchanged. A limb can only have one emergency per damage type (brute/burn for right now) at a time, and taking significant additional damage of that type to that limb can promote the wound (moderate -> severe -> critical). 

Sources of each type of wound and their effects are discussed below, and treatment options are discussed further down in another section. Generally, brute wounds would hamper interaction times and slow you down, while burn wounds would damage your clothing and armor, create the risk of infection, and increase new damage dealt to affected limbs.

Note that introduction of these effects would probably require a comensurate decrease in other forms of lethality. For example, large bullets like shotgun slugs, L6 ammo, and .357 rounds would probably need their outright brute damage reduced to compensate for enhanced bone breaking abilities, while lasguns might be made slightly slower firing in exchange for being able to cause more devastating wounds on unarmored targets. Bombs could have their outright damage and knockdowns/stuns greatly reduced, in exchange for being able to cause both brute and burn injuries (concussion/fireball) to nearby victims.


---
## Injury Severities
### Moderate:
When you sustain a spike of damage in one location or otherwise do something bad to your body that isn't quite the end of the world. Moderate injuries are annoying and definitely something that need to be treated in the long run, but can be shrugged off to continue fighting at a moderate disadvantage or continue fleeing a threat until you can get to a safe place to check yourself more fully.

For brute injuries, this would manifest as a non-critical bone janking or dislocating, and would be gained from slamming into something solid with great force (thrown into a wall by a hulk or blast, slammed over a countertop with a very strong grip, being hit with a weighty weapon on an already bruised limb). Negative effects would include slower interaction times and click delays with that arm, slightly reduced walk with steps of that leg (maybe refactor step time to alternate between limbs so you can limp?), and minor damage accumulation when using that limb.

For burns, this would manifest as a minor searing wound, enough that you'd want to get air on it and apply some disinfectant, but not severe enough that tissue is actively rotting off. Sources of moderate burns would be light firestacks (refactor low fire amounts to maybe be limb dependent if handled quickly, can be extinguished by briefly patting down that limb a la Far Cry 2 rather than instant full body that needs stop drop & roll?) and weaker laser/energy weapons on covered limbs (a standard armor vest would be able to protect against multiple direct hits before allowing Moderate wounds, and even a jumpsuit would do a lot to move a single lasgun blast or two from Severe to Moderate before that limb is no longer covered). Negative effects would be the eventual development of infections, and increased burn and brute damage dealt to affected limbs.

### Severe:
Something bad enough that you should immediately begin looking for an exit to whatever situation you're currently in until you can lick your wounds and find treatment. Severe wounds will continually worsen if left untreated, and continued use of the affected limbs will hasten this decline. You might be able to finish fighting one or two attackers off if the odds were in your favor, or beat a hasty retreat through maintenance from your attackers, but you need to start planning your next steps around getting restorative treatment, or at least stabilizing your wounds, lest they become critical.

For brute injuries, this would amount to a hairline fracture in a main limb that would continue growing in severity if not stabilized. Hairline fractures can come from strong blows or impacts against badly damaged or dislocated limbs, as well as from being shredded with metal shrapnel or mauled by a strong beast like a combat bear or juggernaut. Continued use of the limb will result in acute pain and damage, and trying to interact with the limb will cause longer interaction times and click cooldowns for arms, and brief standing stuns to grit your teeth while moving for legs. 

For burn injuries, this amounts of a severe/second degree burn, possibly with some fusion of whatever clothing you had covering this body part. Infection is a serious concern, and it's in your best interests to keep the wound clean and out of use until you can get it treated or at least use some disinfectant or cloth on it. Sources include lasgun blasts to unprotected limbs (a jumpsuit may ablate a direct hit or two on a limb down to Moderate, but shots on wholly uncovered limbs like bare legs in a jumpskirt may go straight to Severe), or full body ignition that's put out in short order. Maybe also extended exposure to space? In addition to the growing threat of a creeping infection that can spread from body part to body part, you'll sustain a fair amount of extra damage whenever an affected limb is hurt. 


### Critical:
Bad! You have sustained catastrophic damage to a limb and are in immediate danger of losing the limb or succumbing to shock and potentially outright dying. If you're in a fight, you were probably already losing it badly, and if you sustained a critical injury from an environmental hazard like a bomb or fire, now is the time to cry out for help and stumble towards the nearest crowded place and hope someone finds you soon. A critical injury by itself isn't a death sentence, and if the damage is all localized to one or two areas you can probably hobble your way to medbay, but sustaining this much damage in a short time means something has probably gone horribly wrong and you're already in a bad way.

For brute injuries, you have suffered a critical compound fracture, and whatever limb is affected is outright busted. With great pain and concentration you can still manage to interact with the world with this limb, but you'll be greatly slowed down doing so, and you'd probably be better off laying down and pleading for someone to come to you for stabilizing and treatment. Possible sources include multiple large caliber bullets striking the same limb, being in the immediate vicinity of a strong bomb explosion, or getting smashed with a large blunt weapon in the same limb 6-8 times in a row. 

For burn injuries, your flesh is well done, and beneath all the char and slough tissue is raw, exposed muscle. Needless to say, this is excruciatingly painful and even a well meaning hug could be crippling to an untreated critical burn. Your clothing and equipment on that region has likely melted and fused into your skin, necessitating surgical removal, and your wound is an open party for infection. Interestingly, prolonged exposure of plasma to open wounds can result in even nastier infections than normal, so for God's sakes don't go standing around in plasma even if it's not on fire. That being said, to have sustained a critical burn in the first place, you've probably already walked through an extended open plasma fire without protective gear, or were just been unlucky enough to been hit by multiple heavy laser/energy beams, like those from emitter arrays or laser cannons.


---
## Treatment Categories
### :cat: 1: Proper Treatment
Wherein you get your butt to medbay or someone who's dedicated a sizeable portion of their inventory to carrying the tools that allow them to properly treat injuries (namely doctors and medics, though if an assistant gets off on stuffing bonesetters in their bag instead of guns, godspeed to them). These treatments get to the root of the problem and, while requiring a bit of setup and hassle to accomplish, usually resolve things such that you won't need to worry about it any more.

Examples include use of a bonesetter on a moderate dislocated limb, performing bone regeneration surgery on a critical compound fracture (one or two steps less than outright reattachment), performing proper cleaning and bandaging of a moderate burn, and performing thorough wound debriding surgery for severe burns (excising dead tissue, heavy doses of disinfectant and burn salve). 

More severe wounds will require more time and perhaps resources (dislocations just need a bonesetter and maybe something to bite on, while compound fractures require an operation and some bone gel), but within a minute of completing the operation, you'll be back on your merry way.


### :cat2: 2: The Buddy System
Wherein you may not have the proper tools to take care of your wound, but you have a friend nearby who can assist with the healing and perhaps some makeshift/triage gear to help things go smoother. This is the basic level of triage you can expect from anyone with access to a general first aid kit outside of medbay, or some improvised substitute for them.

Category 2 treatments aim to either outright take care of the issue with some adverse side effects (such as minor dislocations or burns), or at least stabilizing more serious injuries (like serious fractures or necrotizing tissue) so they don't cause more issues while you seek better treatment. For dislocations and minor burns, this could involve forcefully popping a bone back into place by hand or disinfecting a burn with alcohol and wrapping it with cloth, which will still cause some damage and minor temporary debuffs, but won't need to be followed up on. For things like fractures and necrosis, this may involve either using a pre-prepared or improvised sling to prevent a broken bone from getting worse while fleeing, or trimming the armor plate currently fused into your chest and cauterizing the surrounding flesh to delay an imminent infection.

Clearly, while this category only serves as a temporary measure for serious injuries, use of The Buddy System can be sufficient for minor wounds from las-blasts on unprotected flesh or a dislocated shoulder from being slammed into a wall by a hulk. Paired with a good nap or some healing tonics from the bartender, you may never need to venture to medbay as long as you've got a pal nearby.


### :cat2: 2--/3++: The Naked Snake
This is a hypothetical category for between categories 2 and 3, where you don't have a friend to make it to Cat 2, but you at least had the foresight or luck to have some triage gear on hand for addressing your own wounds. This would cover simple things like tourniquets, painkillers, basic salves, bandages, and other basic kit Naked Snake would use in MGS3 to treat his wounds. These will only resolve the most basic of Moderate injuries and may only mask the worsening issues for serious fractures or burn infections, but it's better than nothing, and may give you the boost you need to find someone who can render proper first aid for serious wounds.

### :cat3: 3: Last Resort Self Treatment
When you're desperate and have neither the proper facilities to treat your wounds nor the gear to at least secure them in a halfway safe manner. These are quick and very dirty, and really only good for trading impending collapse for near-imminent collapse. While Moderate injuries may be (very painfully!) resolved after an attempt or two, treating Severe and especially Critical injuries this way is stupidly risky and only really worth it if you're out of options.

Examples on the Moderate side of the spectrum include gritting your teeth and popping a dislocated limb back into place by hand, as well as openly picking off bits of dead skin from a burn to try warding off an infection. For more serious wounds, your efforts will basically amount to trying to apply manual pressure to your broken or shattered bone to hold it together, or spitting on your open searing muscle tissue and clutching it tightly while not to pass out from pain. If you're lucky, you might get temporary relief from triggering your shock response, but really you shouold probably just lay down and pray someone hears your cries on the radio. Having strong alcohol in your system can at least push you towards Cat 3++ territory.