I spend some part of my job dealing with medical coding, and I’m always amused by the comprehensive way in which accidental injuries and death are classified. So if you’re killed by a spacecraft (E845.9) or by a terrorist with a depth charge (E979.0), or if you suffer injury through external constriction caused by hair (E928.4) or by being shot with a Verey pistol (E922.8), or because an animal-drawn vehicle has collided with your streetcar (E827.4) –- well, the International Classification of Diseases has your number.
Note to self: die quietly at home in your bed. It will save a great deal of embarrassment for all concerned.
Hey, if I were to want to know what the coding means on my diagnosis sheet, could you tell me? I sometimes feel a little paranoid about what “they” are writing about me.
(the main categories are listed, but to get all the details, you have to register,–but it’s free, and you can do it with a fake name
But I hope you never see “E988” on your diagnosis sheet-- it means you’ve just been executed
So, the coding for someone who was carrying a pistol, and fell off a vibrating machine onto a screwdriver which penetrated that other orifice, and their long hair got snagged on the falling spacecraft and wrapped around their neck so they simultaneously got strangled, shot by their pistol, bled out through that penetrated orifice and squished by the spacecraft would be…
