Forced landing of balloon injuring occupant, sequela

This code describes the long-term health consequences or complications arising from an injury sustained by an occupant during a forced landing of a balloon. It indicates that the initial injury has resolved, but the patient continues to experience residual effects directly attributable to that incident.

This code is appropriate when documenting a patient's current condition that is a direct result of an injury from a forced balloon landing, and the acute phase of the injury has passed. Examples include chronic pain, limited range of motion, neurological deficits, or psychological sequelae stemming from the original event. It should be used for follow-up encounters where the focus is on managing these lasting effects.

• Always sequence this sequela code after the code(s) identifying the specific nature of the sequela (e.g., chronic pain, fracture nonunion).
• Do not use this code for the initial encounter or during the active treatment phase of the injury; use acute injury codes for those instances.
• Ensure documentation clearly links the current condition to the past forced balloon landing incident.