The top 5 most gruesome horror movie injuries - and the ICD-10 codes that could save the victims' lives

It’s a dark and stormy night in the small town where your dental practice is located. It’s also one of the first late, late afternoons you’ve worked in the practice since it relocated from the center of town to a new location out by the lake.

There have been some strange rumors about why the previous dentist moved out of the location so quickly, but it was such a good price, how could the new owner turn down such a spacious three-operatory location … with a lake right next to it … and some abandoned buildings on the property … and some funny little stones sticking out of the ground near the lake? I mean, what’s not to love about this location?

Just as the dental practice is getting ready to shut down for the night, you hear a scream from just outside the front door. Each your coworkers has gone completely pale. It’s dark outside. It’s pouring rain. Suddenly, you hear another scream and a badly injured person comes bolting through the door.

You’re the only medical facility in the area, so you know you can’t turn this person away. You ask what happened. All she can do is look at you and sob softly.

You know you have to do something. Sure, you’re going to help her … but what ICD-10 codes are you going to use to bill for the treatment? Hey, your practice didn’t start doing medical coding just because it sounded cool, right? This is your time to help a damsel in distress … and also show off your new coding skills.

In this article, we’ve devised five ways the damsel could be injured by Freddy, Jason or any of the other psychos who are running loose in the area where you’ve just moved your practice (it doesn’t look like such a good deal now, huh?). Read on to see her injuries and the ways that ICD-10 codes have actually anticipated that this type of injury might happen.

W29.3XXA

Not only did Jason chase her around the lake, she also seems to have taken some pretty nasty cuts at the hands of his chainsaw. Seriously, who chases someone around with the chainsaw (yes, yes, Texas, we know all about your massacre)? She’s bleeding pretty badly but you’re able to sew her up and assure her that Jason won’t get her again.

I mean, the sheriff shot him, so he’s dead, right? Right? You send her on her way and use ICD-10 code W29.3XXA (contact with garden and outdoor hand tools and machinery, initial encounter).

M26.34

The madman has locked the victim’s husband inside a room and the only way she can learn the combination to help him escape is to look on the back of her wisdom teeth where the madman carved two of the four numbers on each of her wisdom teeth while he had her sedated (seriously, who thinks of this? Apparently the people who came up with the movie Saw. In order for her to see the numbers, she has to manually pull out her own wisdom teeth.

Yeah, she isn’t feeling very good when she finally makes it to your practice (and where’s the guy she got out of the room by doing this anyway? Geez.). You help plug the holes where her wisdom teeth used to be and use ICD-10 code M26.34 (vertical displacement of a fully erupted tooth).

T20.40XA 

The disfigured madman laughs maniacally as he throws acid on the victim’s face, saying, “Now you’ll like me!” Come on, you’re a guy and she’s a lady. No way she’s going to look like you unless you put a blonde wig on, dude. She stumbles into your office and you help put bandages on her face and ease her pain.

Luckily, you have ICD-10 code T20.40XA (corrosion of unspecified degree of head, neck, and face, unspecified site, initial encounter) to use for your billing purposes.

W29.4XXA 

Bob the Builder has gone mad, I tell you … MAD! Not only has he moved into the abandoned buildings by your dental practices (what are the odds?), but he’s also tired of people asking him if he can fix it. He screams, “No, I can’t!” as he stalks his prey, including your patient tonight, who just happened to wander into the abandoned building looking for her lost puppy. He used a nail gun to send a nail right through her jaw.

She was able to pull the nail out (she’s very tough) before she came into your practice. You ask her if she was a recent tetanus shot then help sew her up, using ICD-10 code W29.4XXA (contact with a nail gun, initial encounter) to not only help her, but your practice’s bottom line as well.

X01.4XXA

So the sheriff’s office finally tracked the killer into the abandoned barn behind your practice (that, ironically, was filled with old sharp blades and machinery of all kinds). They decide the best way to get him out of the barn (and maybe finally do away with him after they’ve already killed him six or seven times) is to set the barn on fire. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?

Well, little do they realize that there are also multiple cans of jet fuel stored in the barn as well (what are the odds?) and the explosion is intense, sending a propeller blade into your patient’s face and knocking out several of her teeth. Luckily, you’re there to help her through the pain and use ICD-10 code X01.4XXA (hit by object due to uncontrolled fire, not in building, initial encounter) to send the procedure off for billing.

It’s a strange location for your office, but at least you have ICD-10 knowledge to help you through the odd occurrences happening near your practice. Stay tuned … there might just be more strange happenings and corresponding ICD-10 codes very, very soon. Cue the evil laugh here.