diff --git a/code/modules/reagents/reagent_containers/syringes_vr.dm b/code/modules/reagents/reagent_containers/syringes_vr.dm
index 3f012a257ae..4c9bdee890e 100644
--- a/code/modules/reagents/reagent_containers/syringes_vr.dm
+++ b/code/modules/reagents/reagent_containers/syringes_vr.dm
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@
 	LAZYINITLIST(targets)
 
 	//We can't keep a mob reference, that's a bad idea, so instead name+ref should suffice.
-	var/hash = md5(target.real_name + "\ref[target]")
+	var/name_to_use = ismob(target) ? target.real_name : target.name
+	var/hash = md5(name_to_use + "\ref[target]")
 
 	//Just once!
 	targets |= hash