O71.4Obstetric high vaginal laceration alone

O71.4 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for obstetric high vaginal laceration alone. It belongs to category O71 (other obstetric trauma), block O60-O77 (complications of labor and delivery) and chapter 15 (pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium). It is billable, so it can be reported on its own for dates of service from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.

Within O71 (other obstetric trauma), O71.4 is specifically for obstetric high vaginal laceration alone. Related codes cover rupture of uterus (spontaneous) before onset of labor (O71.0), rupture of uterus during labor (O71.1), postpartum inversion of uterus (O71.2), obstetric laceration of cervix (O71.3), other obstetric injury to pelvic organs (O71.5), obstetric damage to pelvic joints and ligaments (O71.6), obstetric hematoma of pelvis (O71.7), other specified obstetric trauma (O71.8) and 1 more.

Don't report O71.4 together with the conditions in its Excludes1 note: obstetric high vaginal laceration with perineal laceration (O70.-).

As a secondary diagnosis it is a CC (complication or comorbidity), which can move an inpatient stay into the "with CC" MS-DRG of its family, unless the principal diagnosis excludes it.

In MS-DRG v44.0, it is part of the grouping logic for DRG 769 (Postpartum and Post Abortion Diagnoses with O.R. Procedures, relative weight 1.6673) and DRG 776 (Postpartum and Post Abortion Diagnoses without O.R. Procedures, relative weight 0.6721), in MDC 14 (Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Puerperium), as a principal or secondary diagnosis. The DRG a claim lands in depends on the principal diagnosis, procedures and any CC/MCC secondary diagnoses.

The Medicare Code Editor treats this as a maternity diagnosis, expected only for patients age 9 through 64.

It is on the CMS list of diagnoses consistent only with female patients (the sex-conflict edit itself was retired in FY2025).

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.

Before ICD-10, this condition was coded in ICD-9-CM as 665.41 (high vaginal laceration, delivered, with or without mention of antepartum condition) and 665.44 (high vaginal laceration, postpartum condition or complication).