The World Health Organization sets a list of medical conditions into well-used code called the "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems," or ICD for short. The official alphanumeric ciphers are used in medical records and insurance claims worldwide, noting the wide range of ailments and conditions a human may experience—everything from "tuberculosis" and "gastric ulcers" to "struck by orca" and "burn due to water skis on fire."
The latter categories of unusual and puzzlingly specific conditions even inspired the 2014 book Struck by Orca: ICD-10 Illustrated.
But how often are these peculiar codes actually used? An insurance data company did the work to find out. The most bizarre ICD codes listed in the 2014 book, such as the title "struck by orca," were not used in the US in the last 12 months, which is both good and disappointing. But codes just slightly less bizarre were used—some quite a lot, such as W503: "accidental bite by another person."
You'll have to read the fine article to enjoy the rest, but the author does close the article with this little bit:
Of course, codes with such few uses may suffer from just transcription error, Amino notes. Still, be careful out there, especially around cows, sword fights, power tools, and pedestrian obstacles.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Friday September 01 2017, @07:42PM (1 child)
Don't just RTFA, also read the comments. Some pretty hilarious ones in there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @08:13PM
Now I have to enable scripts at cdn.arstechnica.net...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MrGuy on Friday September 01 2017, @08:14PM (4 children)
Back when the book came out in 2014, Lowering the Bar (one of my favorite legal humor reads) published an article mocking the code "Injury Code V97.33XD: Sucked Into Jet Engine (Subsequent Encounter) [loweringthebar.net]", on the theory that, if someone was sucked into a jet engine, it's unlikely they're going to need follow up visits (for that matter, it's unlikely they're making it to the INITIAL visit....)
Then, a few days later, he had to retract the "making fun of" (sort of) because apparently someone actually HAD been sucked into a jet engine and survived, [loweringthebar.net] meaning they might actually need that medical code after all. (The person in question was sucked into the air intake for a jet engine, but not, obviously, actually THROUGH the engine....)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by choose another one on Friday September 01 2017, @08:37PM (3 children)
Not only that (in)famous military suckee, as pointed out elsewhere jet engines actually come in lots of sizes and smaller ones (RC model aircraft) are not really big enough to eat a whole human at once. Hence perfectly possible to be in hospital to patch up the stump of whatever bit of you did get sucked into a jet engine...
[ In same vein, there's probably one for "head injury due to helicopter rotor" which used to be pretty much always fatal but now with drones everywhere will be more commonly used and less fatal ]
(Score: 3, Funny) by MrGuy on Friday September 01 2017, @08:42PM (2 children)
It sounds to me like you're making the case that we need more codes, so that we can distinguish these kinds of events...
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @08:50PM (1 child)
Look guys, I found the asshole that made your C++ Object hierarchy completely unusable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @09:05PM
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @08:48PM (2 children)
"accidental bite by another person."
Thus creating Unix.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Saturday September 02 2017, @03:25AM (1 child)
Big Endian or Little Endian?
(Score: 2) by arulatas on Tuesday September 05 2017, @01:50PM
It's Native American you insensitive clod.
----- 10 turns around
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @09:11PM (5 children)
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @09:27PM (4 children)
Third grade: The class is out playing softball.
David Powers and Steve Adams are both running to field a high fly ball.
They collide and David ends up with 2 incisor wounds in his forehead.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @09:51PM (1 child)
Then in college, Adam and Steve...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01 2017, @09:57PM
This ain't reddit, git back to your beautiful coast, hot women, and good food!
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Friday September 01 2017, @10:47PM
I had a similar encounter in 2nd grade during a collision on the playground. My teeth hit someone else's head and they needed stitches. With all the kids running around I'm surprised it doesn't happen more than 10,600 times a year. I wonder if it occurred more often before dodgeball and tag were banned.
To be oneself, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity
(Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday September 02 2017, @12:41AM
Last Weekend: Ethanol-fueled gets drunk and walks around his apartment after shitposting on SoylentNews.
This is a big problem with IKEA furniture. On my bedframe I have damaged both my shins and my ankle. Or when I round the corner around my breakfast bar too tight and get a toe or two snagged on the seatbench. Or, if overhead cabinets count, forget I leave one open and run my head right into its corner.
I learned these the hard way as a kid on my grandma's ranch. I don't know where the cartoon stereotype of hens sitting all calm and content in the coop came from, but what I do remember is that I dreaded going in there because it was a chaotic swarm of loud and mean motherfuckers with a lot of pointy ends on them. And when they're as tall as your dick is high off the ground, being around them gets the heart pumping.
Nobody taught me how to feed horses treats before it was too late, so the first time I fed a horse an apple I held it like a baseball pitcher holds a changeup. So for those of you who don't know, hold it in your flat palm with fingers outstretched, as if your hand were a dinner plate, and gently push the remainder into their mouth.
The remainder mentioned in the article are no surprise either. I knew a framer who accidentally shot himself right through the hand with a nailgun. I've been injured and almost maimed by power-tools countless times. Even Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi knows the dangers of operating machinery, he cut all of his right-hand fingertips off while cutting sheet metal, which forced him to improvise his own thimbles and play guitar with the other handedness.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @12:50AM
Or some such in the Dsm 4
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday September 02 2017, @04:21AM (2 children)
What are the codes for "moose bite" and "turned into a newt with spontaneous recovery"?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @06:46PM (1 child)
One wonders if there are separate codes for "wounded by hand grenade" and "wounded by holy hand grenade".
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:31AM
"Injured by falling coconut dropped by migratory swallow" is probably less common than "bit by duck while on a scale"
What's the code for Injury by Horny Nuns?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:00AM
the most used codes in the near future:
code 1 -> bit by bot
code 0 -> the other possible value for bit by bot
Account abandoned.