Wiktionary says crump means "(intransitive, US, medical slang) (of one's health) to decline rapidly (but not as rapidly as crash)."

There are several doctors here, one of them could pop in and tell us if crumping and crashing are interchangeable. I actually thought "crumping" was the more severe thing to say.

I often use them interchangeably, but “crashing” implies it’s a bit faster (and therefore more obvious), whereas “crump” implies it can be a bit slower. So a “crashing” patient implies you have to run in the room and do something immediately, but a patient who “crumps” might gradually get worse over several hours, have to be put on a ventilator, require pressors, but with much less drama maybe?

I think “crash” gets used more in the past tense, whereas “crump” gets used maybe equally in both future and past tense? e.g “that patient you signed out to me crumped a couple of hours later” , but also, say when leaving a shift, in the future tense, “the guy in bed 6 is admitted to medicine, but let me tell about him in case he crumps”.

my understanding is "crump" as in crumple, fast but not immediate deterioration. I believe you can crash at the end of your crump.

My understanding is that it's deterioration to the point where your patient is, in a figurative sense, actively trying to die.

Paramedic: Yes, it does.