A 79-year-old frail patient accidentally sat down on the arm of the chair instead of the cushion. Patient sustained a fractured hip requiring hip replacement. What should the coder assign as the principal diagnosis?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The correct action is to query the physician for a possible underlying disease because the scenario suggests that the patient is frail and the injury occurred under circumstances (sitting down) that might not typically result in a hip fracture. This could indicate an underlying condition such as osteoporosis (which would be coded as 733.14) that contributed to the fracture. The specific fracture codes (820.8, 820.03) should be used only after confirming the exact nature of the fracture and whether an underlying condition played a role.

A 79-Year-Old Frail Patient Accidentally Sat Down on the Arm