I recently was told a story about a person whose therapist died. The story really wasn’t about the therapist’s death, as much as what happened after he died.
The short-ish backstory for context: The therapist had been battling an illness for some time, and all his patients knew it. And, occasionally, the therapist would have to reschedule appointments due to something happening with his illness. Understandable.
But one day, the therapist didn’t show up for an appointment (telehealth) with a patient. And there was no email about it, no call, and nothing in the patient portal. When there was no communication for a few days, the patient’s spouse went to the therapist’s website, and found it gone. The spouse called the therapist’s office, and the number was no longer in service. Eventually, the spouse searched the web for the therapist’s name. That’s when she saw the obituary.
Now, therapists are ethically expected to have a contingency plan or a professional will in place to protect clients and to make sure that their care, records, and privacy aren’t left in limbo in case of emergency.
But this therapist didn’t, OR something went terribly awry with the plan/will in terms of its execution.
As a business coach, most of the small business people I’ve met have never heard of a professional will. And many don’t have any sort of contingency plan in place in case something awful happens to them.
Do you? If so, do you have something in it specific to how your VA factors into that?
If your VA is your right-hand person, rather than a contractor you tap every so often for tasks, you’ll want to keep reading.
A few years ago, one of my coaching clients had a serious health emergency that left her unable to communicate. When her VA hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days, she came to me (the client had given us permission to talk to one another) for guidance about what to do. The client’s husband had reached out to her, shared the emergency that had happened, and asked for help with the business. Unfortunately, the VA couldn’t discuss that with him.
Why? Because in her client agreement it said this: “I promise not to discuss our relationship or your business with anyone without your express permission.”
No such permission had ever been given. And, the husband also didn’t have anything showing he had power of attorney. So the VA did the only ethical thing she could do: nothing.
Things ended up ok, but things could have as easily ended up horribly.
We used this as a teaching moment inside the AssistU community, and now many of our VAs now address emergencies during onboarding, so they get the permission they need to be helpful to their clients.
If this hasn’t been addressed in your work with your VA, consider that there’s never going to be a better time to do that than now, as we never know when an emergency may happen, whether due to a health crisis, accident, fire, natural disaster, cyber attack, or even something as simple as a prolonged Internet or phone service failure.
I suggest that you see if the VA has something that addresses what to do if you are unreachable, and, if not, create something yourself, sign it, and share it.
What should it include? You might want to discuss that with your attorney. But here’s what I think matters most:
1. A statement around when the plan kicks in (for example, if you unexpectedly aren’t reachable for three business days).
2. One or more emergency contacts, with full contact info; these are the people the VA can reach out to and take direction from.
3. Clear instructions about what the VA is allowed to discuss with those contacts, and what the VA can do at their request.
4. A commitment to review and revise the plan and permission as needed, but at the very least, yearly.
Now, if someone has your durable power of attorney, all of this may feel like overkill. But just imagine what might happen if that person couldn’t find the document when it matters most.
This isn’t about fear. It’s about being respectful, ready, and certain that the person who may know your business best (second only to you) isn’t left powerless to support you in an emergency.
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