diff --git a/R/checkers.R b/R/checkers.R
index adfea514..d36629ee 100644
--- a/R/checkers.R
+++ b/R/checkers.R
@@ -289,10 +289,10 @@
     ))
   }
   if (!rlang::is_lgl_na(onset_to_death_eval)) {
-    if (rlang::is_lgl_na(hosp_death_risk)) {
+    if (rlang::is_lgl_na(hosp_death_risk) && !rlang::is_lgl_na(hosp_risk)) {
       msg <- c(msg, paste(
-        "hosp_death_risk is set to NA but onset_to_death is specified \n",
-        "set hosp_death_risk to numeric value"
+        "hosp_death_risk is set to NA but hosp_risk and onset_to_death is",
+        "specified \n set hosp_death_risk to numeric value"
       ))
     }
     if (rlang::is_lgl_na(non_hosp_death_risk)) {
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-sim_linelist.R b/tests/testthat/test-sim_linelist.R
index ebc3394b..11015c89 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-sim_linelist.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-sim_linelist.R
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ test_that("sim_linelist fails when onset-to-event are given by risk is NA", {
       onset_to_death = onset_to_death,
       hosp_death_risk = NA
     ),
-    regexp = "(hosp_death_risk is set to NA but onset_to_death is specified)"
+    regexp = "(hosp_death_risk is set to NA but hosp_risk and onset_to_death)"
   )
   expect_error(
     sim_linelist(