By Robert S. Gold, MDAn admission
presentation of “syncope” should rarely result in a discharge
diagnosis (diagnosis after work-up) of syncope. Unfortunately, physicians
don’t always make that clear to coders.Physicians go through an
expansive thought process when faced with a patient who has apparently fainted.
The possible severity in this event ranges from mere fainting with virtually no
clinical implications to a life-and-death emergency. Doctors must first
determine whether the case is a life-or-death situation. The physician has to
immediately rule out acute myo
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