Strange codes from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems

ICD-10 is a standard that defines 70,000+ codes for standardizing the reporting of injuries and diseases, and it is terrifyingly comprehensive: if V95.4 ("Unspecified spacecraft accident injuring occupant") isn't enough, how about V97.33XA ("Sucked into jet engine, initial encounter") and for bisto, V97.33XD ("Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter").

John D Cook has more: Y92.146 ("injuries in a prison swimming pool") and Y92.253 ("injuries sustained at the opera").

I understand that the circumstance of a diagnosis is not recorded strictly for medical reasons. But while 70,000 is an unwieldy large set of codes, it's kinda small when it has to account for both malady and circumstance. Surely there are 70,000 circumstances alone that are more common than being in a spacecraft, for instance.

Rare and strange ICD-10 codes [John D Cook]

(via Four Short Links