Wiki Opiate Overdose

klamm

Networker
Messages
45
Location
Galveston, TX
Best answers
0
I'm sure this has been asked several times but would an overdose of opiates for a person who abuses numerous drugs be considered an accidental poisoning, an intentional poisoning or underdetermined poisoning?
The medical records state that patient was found down and unresponsive. The patient adamantly denies taking any drugs at all; he believes something was put in his drink. The doctor documented opiate overdose with
polysubstance use/overdose. I do not have any lab findings to refer to.

Thank You
KLamm
 
Accidental. From the coding guidelines "if the intent of the poisoning is unknown or unspecified, code the intent as accidental intent"
Intentional would be the patient took the drugs on purpose with the intent of harming himself. In order to code undetermined, documentation in the record would have to specify that the intent (intentional or accidental) could not be determined. I rarely see this documented.
FYI - the same section of the guidelines also states "if there is also a diagnosis of abuse or dependence of the substance, the abuse or dependence is assigned as an additional code"
 
Top