Halloween Movies and Codes that Go Bump in the Night

For fans of the horror movie genre and the seasonal Charlie Brown specials alike, October has become a month-long celebration of Halloween in movie theaters, cable television, and streaming services.

To cap off this year’s spooky movie season, AHIMA staff compiled a list of their favorite Halloween thrills and ICD-10 codes to match.

 

Get Out

In this horror masterpiece, therapist Missy Armitage (played by Catherine Keener) uses hypnosis as a weapon against Chris Washington (played by Daniel Kaluuya), a black man dating her white daughter, who has unwittingly walked into den of racist body-snatchers.

Code:

• R41.89 (Chris falls victim to Missy’s hypnosis)

The Sixth Sense

Eight-year-old Cole Sear (played by Haley Joel Osment), a character who famously “sees dead people,” is visited by specters with unfinished business—including a vomiting ghost girl whose mysterious cause of death is ultimately revealed in a shocking manner.

Codes:

• F68.A (Munchausen syndrome by proxy)
• R11.10 (Vomiting)

 

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

In this holiday-themed Charlie Brown special, it doesn’t take long for an all too familiar scene to take place: Lucy urges Charlie Brown to kick a football—only to pull it away at the last moment  causing Charlie to fall on his head. Later, a shadowy figure appears while Linus and Sally eagerly wait in the pumpkin patch to catch a glimpse of the Great Pumpkin—and Linus promptly faints.

Codes:

• S09.90XA (Head injury)
• S39.92XA (Lower back injury)
• W18.39XA (Other fall on same level)
• Y93.79 (Activity, sports and athletics)
• R55 (Fainting)
• R44.1 (Visual hallucination)
• Y92.73 (Farm field as the place of occurrence)

The Shining

Fans will forever debate the merits of Stephen King’s original ending and the one Stanley Kubrick ultimately chose for his 1980 horror movie classic. (SPOILER ALERT) In Kubrick’s version, Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) chases his wife and child through a hedge maze before ultimately succumbing to the elements.

Codes:

• T68.XXXA (Hypothermia)
• X31.XXXA (Exposure to excessive natural cold)
• Y92.59 (The “historic Overlook Hotel” as the place of occurrence)

The Birds

This Hitchcock classic holds the audience in suspense as a small town tries to survive in the wake of a sudden onslaught of violent bird attacks. One unlucky character is discovered in the room of a house that’s been thoroughly devastated by a murderous flock.

Codes:

• S05.71XA (Traumatic enucleation of right eye)
• S05.72XA (Traumatic enucleation of left eye)
• W61.99XA (Pecked by bird)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Though not its central focus, Halloween looms large in this film. More funny than frightening, E.T. gets bored while hanging out at home while his buddy Elliott is in school. When he finds a beer in the refrigerator he imbibes, getting himself and Elliott tipsy in the process.

Code:

• F10.129 (Drunkenness)

Rear Window

Temporarily confined to a wheelchair while solving his neighbor’s murder, Jimmy Stewart’s character, a photographer, stops an intruder in his tracks using his camera’s flash bulb.

Codes:

• H53.123 (Transient visual loss (both eyes))
• W89.8XXA (Exposure to other man-made visible and ultraviolet light)

The Exorcist

Young Regan MacNeil (played by Linda Blair) undergoes a rollercoaster of physical and emotional manifestations of evil.

Codes:

• R11.12 (Projectile vomiting)
• F44.89 (Dissociative/conversion disorder)
• Y92.003 (The horrors faced in this movie occur almost entirely in the character’s bedroom)

Misery

In this film adaptation of another Stephen King classic, Annie Wilkes (played by Kathy Bates) attempts to nurse injured author Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan) back to health following a car accident. Things go… terribly wrong.

Codes:

• S82.891A (Fracture right ankle)
• S82.892A (Fracture left ankle)
• Y00.XXXA (Assault by blunt object)
• Y92.003 (Bedroom of private home is the place of occurrence)

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