Sepsis and Pneumonia unrelated
If a patient is admitted for acute resp failure and pneumonia and later it is noted pt also has sepsis (present on admission) related to cholecystitis/cholelithiasis, should Sepsis still be the Principal Dx or should the resp failure or pna be PDx with sepsis as secondary since they are unrelated? I know the sepsis coding guidelines indicate sepsis would be PDx if POA, but since the infections are unrelated, is there a coding clinic or guideline somewhere that addresses this? I'm thinking I have read this somewhere in the past but cannot find the documentation on it.
Thank you!
Thank you!