Is it true you can be hospitalized for gerd?

Yes, but rare: Long term and severe complications of GERD include bleeding from the esophagus or a stricture of the valve between the esophagus that can cause food to become impacted here. Both of these things may require an emergency endoscopy to fix the problem. They are however very uncommon in the modern age of medications and good access to healthcare in general. Hope this helps!

Potentially: patients with severe GERD can develop pneumonia as a result of reflux but this is a relatively uncommon manifestation. Classic "heartburn" is more common. Other severe manifestations include esophageal stricture, dysfunction or cancer as a result of longstanding GERD