Hello, boys and ghouls. As Halloween quickly approaches, many of us are feverishly flipping through Netflix’s horror movie section for those creepy films that make us have to sleep with the lights on and check under the bed twice before hitting the sheets.
And, as the healthcare system starts to get used to the transition from using the tradition ICD-9 codes into the ICD-10, there’s so much to get used to that it’s almost scary. But, in the spirit of the season, here are some pretty cool correlations between your favorite spooky cinema classics and the new health codes.
American Psycho
W27.0XXA: Contact with a workbench tool, initial encounter.
This cult classic starring Christian Bale follows a yuppie serial killer in a 1980’s setting. His workbench tool in this case…..an axe.
Carrie
F40.230: Fear of blood
W55.49XA, Other contact with pig, initial encounter
This iconic adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, Carrie, is of course a tale of a prom night gone dead wrong. If we thought we went through weird phases in high school the movie’s main character played by Sissy Spacek makes it look like a cakewalk. After bullies dropped a bucket of pig’s blood on her head at prom, her strange powers are unleashed and all hell let’s lose.
The Blair Witch Project
Y92.828: Other wilderness area as the place of occurrence of the external cause
Perhaps one of the fathers of the “mockumentary” style horror flick genre, the Blair Witch Project was a film about a group of young people in search of a local Jersey legend. In their case, hitting the woods looking for trouble ended up with them finding just what they were looking for…
The Shining
R44.1, Visual disturbances
Another classic adaptation of a Stephen King novel, The Shining stars a young Jack Nicholson as an author facing severe writer’s block and takes a job as a seasonal caretaker at a hotel. Little did he know, the tainted history living within the hotel’s walls would lead him into homicidal madness after encountering ghostly occurrences.
Halloween
X99.1XXA, Assault by knife, initial encounter
John Carpenter’s iconic Halloween series of cult classic horror movies introduced us to Michael Myers, the masked murderer who sought his victims after escaping lockdown while being transferred for a court date.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
W29.3XXA, Contact with chainsaw, initial encounter
Never before has an entire society cowered in fear more than by the shrill noise of the chainsaw. Texas Chainsaw Massacre made us fear lumberjack tools even more than we did previously, too. Not to mention all the nightmares “Leatherface” must have caused since it’s release in 1974.
