Posted by noa on January 31, 2003, at 18:01:54
In reply to Re: What happens to our records?, posted by Mashogr8 on January 31, 2003, at 15:40:21
Just today, I found some info on this. Apparently the laws differ by state. But, the American Psychological Association recommends that psychologists have a professional will in addition to their personal will. The professional will will have its own executor, preferably another mental health professional. The executor takes charge of the files, and is supposed to separate active from inactive files. If the patient is transferring to another therapist/doctor, the executor is responsible for transferring the file. The will is supposed to indicate how to notify patients of the death as well as of how patients can access their files. The executor of the professional will is also supposed to be in contact with the executor of the personal will.
I wonder how many therapists/pdocs have this taken care of?
They didn't go into this, but I supposed the person named executor then needs to ammend their own professional will to indicate how to dispose of the "inherited" files of the deceased therapist.
poster:noa
thread:2352
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20021230/msgs/2402.html