Wiki Pathologic fractures

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Gaastra, MI
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How would you code the following scenario....

Patient is an 81 yr old female who was reaching to get a dish out of her kitchen cupboard and experienced back pain. She came into the ER and x-rays revealed compression fx of
T10 and L1, L2 and L4. She does have history of osteoporosis. Final diagnosis is compression fxs. Should I code this as pathologic fracture even though the doctor does not state it?

:confused:
 
Is it a duck?

One rule of thumb that I learned from going to school for HIT was that if the doctor did not say that it was a duck then it's not a duck and don't code it as a duck. Unless you would want to query the physician for clarification, I would code it just as it says in the medical records. Hopes this helps! =)
 
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