Struck By a Turtle? Crushed By a Merchant Ship? There's a Code for That

[snopes]

Struck by a turtle lately?

No? Well surely you've been smacked by a raccoon, chicken ... or at the very least, a nonvenomous lizard.

Well, regardless, starting in 2014, your doctor will be prepared when animals, lightning, or even unpowered watercraft strike, burn, bite or injure you in just about any other way.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/...-for-that.html

[Nick Theodorakis]

"You can tell what a doctor does for a living by the ICD-9 codes they have memorized. There is an ICD-9 code for nearly every medical condition. Weightlessness is 994.9. Must be there for NASA, I have yet to see a weightless patient. Decapitation by guillotine is E978. There, I suppose, in case Marat returns from the dead. There is an ICD-9 code for the initial visit after being sucked into jet engine (V9733XA) and one for subsequent visits (V9733XD). Why do I suspect V9733XD has yet to be used?"

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/780-6/

Nick

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by snopes

Struck by a turtle lately?

It wasn't me! I swear!

[Psihala]

There is an ICD-9 code for the initial visit after being sucked into jet engine (V9733XA) and one for subsequent visits (V9733XD). Why do I suspect V9733XD has yet to be used?

Subsequent visits for follow-up treatment or subsequent occurrences of being sucked into a jet engine? Because there is a rather famous instance of an individual being sucked into a jet engine intake on an aircraft carrier flight deck and surviving.

~Psihala

[Bettie Page Turner]

Everybody likes to laugh at the odd codes, but the real value (and need!) of this system involves the ability to be very specific about the causes, path and sequelae of common conditions like cancer, hypertension, kidney disease, pneumonia, or diabetes. That doesn't make for an interesting or amusing blog post, though.

Bettie "Yes, I do this for a living!" Page Turner

[ganzfeld]

Everyone laughs about falling tortoises until it happens to someone they know. Allegedly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeschylus