# Fun with medical coding! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191 "2006-08-10T18:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/1 "2006-08-10T18:44:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/2 "2006-08-10T18:50:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/3 "2006-08-10T19:03:23Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > 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. here’s the official site: > **[EICD Main Page](http://www.eicd.com/EICDMain.htm)** > > Physician on-line practice management software ICD-9-CM, CPT, and HCPCS medical coding software and files, medical advertising, and internet portal with navigation and search (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 ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/4 "2006-08-11T00:08:05Z")
I’m curious… What is the code for injury by food object used as a sex toy? Not that it’s ever happened to me. I’m just sayin’… Really. What are you looking at? ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/5 "2006-08-11T04:42:48Z")
ICD-10 is much less fun to code. ICD-8/9 was much better for external-cause-of-morbidity/mortality coding. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/6 "2006-08-11T15:16:20Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#): > > I’m curious… > What is the code for injury by food object used as a sex toy? All right, you had to ask, and of course I had to go looking. Here’s what I’ve got: E915 Foreign body accidentally entering other orifice E928.2 Accident caused by vibration Take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-with-medical-coding/368191/7 "2006-08-11T16:10:38Z")
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… Code THAT! 😃