Protecting your estate

Most people, including psychologists, don?t like to think about dying. But a psychologist?s failure to make provisions in case of death can cause problems for patients, survivors and the estate.

Psychologist Alan Entin, PhD, former president of Div. 42 (Independent Practice), says psychologists should arrange with a colleague to inform patients in the event of death, offer to see patients on a temporary basis and help with referrals. Such an arrangement could be done informally or be formally drawn up with the help of an attorney.

Psychologists should also consider, says Entin, making sure a notice will be placed in a newspaper informing patients of the death, letting them know who they can call for referral and where their records will be stored.

Billie Hinnefeld, JD, PhD, APA director of legal and regulatory affairs, says psychologists should take ?adequate measures? to ensure that, should they die, their patients receive continued care.

Some psychologists have made informal reciprocal arrangements with colleagues. Nina Fieldsteel, PhD, says she and another psychologist have exchanged lists of patients? names, phone numbers and information about their treatment.

In case of Fieldsteel?s death, her colleague would notify her patients and could serve as a ?bridge therapist??or suggest someone else as a ?bridge??to see the patient through the mourning process and give referrals for successor therapists.

Fieldsteel says she knows a number of analysts who have drawn up such arrangements. ?We heard too many stories of patients who sort of slipped through the cracks,? she says. ?They were never notified and no provision was made for them when an analyst died.?

?Peter Freiberg