What Happens When Your Therapist Dies?

[Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.]

A few years ago, Richard A. Friedman, a psychiatrist, received a call from a colleague saying a friend and fellow psychiatrist had collapsed at home and died of cardiac arrest. She was in her early 70s with no known medical illness. Soon after, colleagues gathered at her home office and realized they had no idea who her patients were or how to reach them. When they finally accessed her computer, a long-term patient had just logged into Zoom for a scheduled appointment and had to be told that her therapist had died that morning.

The loss of a therapist is difficult under any circumstances, but it exposes a serious gap in mental health care. Therapists are often unprepared for the impact of their death or sudden incapacity, even though many practice well into older age. For patients, the loss can feel like abandonment or a betrayal of trust and may trigger severe distress or relapse, particularly for those with prior trauma or serious mental illness. Their grief is also uniquely private and often unacknowledged by others.

Friedman argues that every licensed therapist should have a professional will outlining how patients will be cared for in the event of death or incapacity. While professional organizations recommend such plans, the guidance is not binding and remains widely overlooked. For patients’ sake, he writes, this omission in the profession needs to be corrected.

For more information see Richard A. Friedman “What Happens When Your Therapist Dies?” The New York Times, December 29, 2025.