Infections!
No more freebies!

I do agree with giving people infections for not treating their wounds. But this should take into account the places the person is. Like open wounds in a sewer will definitely give you an infection while being on other places should get you a lower rate.

Now for players not going to the player doctor and instead going to the NPC, that might be because you're just standing there and doing nothing and not engaging them in any RP. Or they just don't want you to treat them or whatever reason... Do they even know you exist?

I'm not sure where the last part came from. As far as I know, there hasn't been anyone ignoring PC doctors, and I don't see anything in my post pertaining to that.

I've seen people walk in to FullerMed to get the freebie emergency "let's stop that bleeding" treatment and then, at "barely clinging to life" status, calmly refuse healing that would cost money, claiming that they see no point in paying for treatment since their wounds will heal just fine on their own. It's a risk if they find themselves in another sticky situation, sure, but it's typically a manageable risk, dealt with by moving to a safe location or avoiding dangerous areas, as the original poster mentioned.

On the flipside, I also see people who want to pay for treatment and who seek healing because they have "vicious cuts," but because their HP-equivalent has already regenerated (they didn't make it to the clinic in a timely fashion), there's nothing I can do for them codewise. In these cases, I still RP some minor treatment, but I feel guilty about charging much when there's no codewise difference before and after "treatment" - and I have been told several times to "go by what the code says."

I am wondering if, in addition (or as an alternative) to the original poster's suggestion, wounds like "vicious cuts" could be appreciably tied to some form of treatment, so that they don't just magically disappear within a day or two on their own without at least one visit to a health professional or the use of a medpak or something. The heal command might be used even when HP has regenerated, in order to improve or normalize the rate of wound healing. In cases where people don't have their wounds checked out (regardless of HP status), perhaps their risk of infection might go up, or it might take longer for their wounds to heal? This way, there would still be a good reason to see a doctor even if your HP-equivalent has already regenerated or your bleeding has been stopped.

Ultimately, I'm not sure whether these are serious problems or just annoyances to someone in my position - I've only been doing the doctor/medic thing for about two months now. But there's my two cents, if it helps.

It's hard to police this, I give out reminders when I see it though but you can't FORCE people to RP something that might guarantee their death because they're out in the open with 10 hp. They'll blame the GMs, and/or they'll stop playing the game and we'll have less players and things won't be as fun on the regular.

It's one of those self-policing things that players need to be responsible for if they want to be seen as a Good RPer to the general community.

Adrenaline is a hard thing to fight, ask anyone who has been in combat in SD. Some people actually get the shakes on the other side of the screen.