She Tried Everything…: In the Four Months Leading Up to the Tragedy, Lindsay Repeatedly Sought Help for Her Struggling Mental Health
LAWSUITS filed by Lindsay Clancy and her ex-husband remain ongoing as her murder trial in connection with her three children’s deaths continues.
Lindsay, 35, has been accused of strangling her kids to death in the basement of their Massachusetts home while her now ex-husband Patrick Clancy was out of the house.
Lindsay Clancy (pictured on Monday) has been accused of strangling her three kids to death on January 24, 2023Credit: Reuters
Patrick Clancy, her now ex-husband (pictured on Wednesday), filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her medical providers in JanuaryCredit: AP
Five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan were found in the basement by Patrick with exercise bands around their necks on January 24, 2023.
Soon after their deaths, Lindsay jumped out of her second-story bedroom window after crushing up pills and cutting her wrists and neck.
Lindsay has admitted to the killings, but her defense attorney Kevin Reddington has planned to argue she is not criminally responsible for murder because she was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum psychosis.
In the four months leading up to her children’s deaths, Lindsay saw a psychiatrist, two nurse practitioners and a therapist and was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications.
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Some of the medications she was prescribed include antipsychotics like Seroquel, benzodiazepines like Valium and Klonopin and antidepressants like Zoloft.
Since January 24, 2023, Lindsay and Patrick have filed separate civil lawsuits accusing her healthcare providers of failing to treat her condition in the months before the killings.
In January 2026, Patrick filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of his children’s estates against Lindsay’s providers, psychiatrist Jennifer Tufts, nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta, and their employers Aster Mental Health Inc. and South Shore Health System Inc.
In the lawsuit, Patrick’s lawyers alleged the “bevy of diverse and powerful medications they misprescribed” and their “abject failure to appropriately monitor Lindsay” resulted in the deterioration of her mental health.
“If Defendants had not acted negligently, and rather had provided adequate care, it is more likely than not that Patrick and Lindsay’s
children would still be alive today,” the lawsuit read.
After Lindsay was prescribed Zoloft in mid-October, she told her doctor she felt “awful” and reported suffering from increased insomnia, lack of appetite and feeling more depressed.
Lindsay also said she was “paranoid of getting suicidal thoughts, something bad happening, doesn’t want to be alone.”
The lawsuit alleged her reactions to the low dose of medication was “atypical” and should have prompted the psychiatrist to assess Lindsay to see why she reacted this way to the medication.
Most of Lindsay’s appointments took place over video calls as opposed to in person, which the wrongful death suit alleged gave her providers an “incomplete picture of Lindsay’s condition.”
The lawsuit seeks damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
Lindsay also filed a civil lawsuit in January 2026 against Tufts, Jollotta, their places of employment and two more hospitals where she received care: McLean Hospital and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.
The lawsuit came about because of the alleged “catastrophic failure of multiple medical providers to properly diagnose, treat, and monitor Lindsay’s severe postpartum psychiatric condition, despite her repeated, desperate pleas for help and her family‘s persistent efforts to obtain adequate care.”
Lindsay and Patrick have argued her mental health was not properly treated in the months before her kids’ deathsCredit: Plymouth Superior Court
Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial
Lindsay Clancy is accused of strangling her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, with exercise bands inside their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home on January 24, 2023.
The former labor and delivery nurse does not deny killing them, but has pleaded not guilty and claims she was not criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Prosecutors argue Clancy deliberately sent her then-husband Patrick out to collect medicine and dinner so she could be left alone with the children.
The trial began with Patrick on the witness stand, describing Clancy’s declining mental health before recounting how he returned home, found her injured outside and discovered the children in the basement. Jurors have since heard his harrowing 911 call, seen the bands that were removed from the children’s necks and viewed their pajamas and other evidence from the home.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks, meaning testimony could continue well into September.
Proceedings are scheduled to begin at around 9am ET on sitting days and normally continue through the afternoon, with morning, lunch and afternoon breaks.
Prosecutors will present their case first, calling first responders, police officers, investigators, medical professionals and other witnesses connected to the killings.
The state listed more than 180 potential witnesses, although prosecutors are not expected to call everyone named.
Jurors are also expected to visit the Clancy family’s former Duxbury home with the judge and lawyers to see the scene for themselves.
Once prosecutors rest, Clancy’s defense will begin calling its own witnesses, including people who knew her and experts expected to testify about her medication, mental health and alleged postpartum psychosis.
The defense listed more than 60 possible witnesses, but some overlap with the prosecution’s list and may not be called twice.
After both sides finish presenting evidence, lawyers will deliver closing arguments before the judge instructs jurors on the law.
The jury will then decide whether Clancy is guilty of murder or was not criminally responsible because of her mental state when she killed her children.
The suit claimed Lindsay did “everything a mother in her situation could do,” by recognizing she was struggling, seeking medical treatment, calling crisis hotlines, admitting herself to hospitals and taking medications prescribed.
Despite her attempts to get help, “the medical system failed her completely,” the lawsuit alleged.
The lawsuit said her medical providers failed to properly diagnose the former labor and delivery room nurse with bipolar disorder with postpartum onset.
The “uncoordinated course of polypharmacy” allegedly “exacerbated her condition and precipitated a severe psychotic break.”
“Lindsay now faces a lifetime of physical disability, psychological trauma, and the unbearable grief of waking up every day knowing she killed her children — all of which could have been prevented had Defendants
provided competent medical care,” the suit read.
Around 12 weeks postpartum, Lindsay suddenly experienced anxiety and depression, which became debilitating.
In his testimony for her criminal trial, Patrick said Lindsay suffered from increased anxiety around the time she had to go back to work after maternity leave.
During these months, Lindsay felt exhausted throughout the day as she would only get around three hours of sleep each night.
Once Lindsay started taking Seroquel, her condition “took a dramatic turn for the worse,” as she began having “intrusive thoughts.”
Her lawsuit alleged the intrusive thoughts were “actually auditory hallucinations,” and a voice said, “I will not be the same. I want to die.”
The lawsuit broke down how Lindsay reacted to each of the medications she was prescribed, including how her emotional state was “like a zombie” while she took Seroquel.
On January 16, 2023, just days before her kids’ deaths, her hallucinations allegedly continued, telling her, “You should harm the children,” and “You should kill yourself.”
Lindsay’s suit seeks punitive damages for her personal injuries in the case, including her physical injuries, psychological trauma and the loss of her children and spouse.
No amount was listed in the filing, and instead would be granted at an amount the court deems appropriate.
David Simon, a health care law professor at Boston-based Northeastern University, told NewsNation that medical malpractice suits that involve psychiatric patients can pose a challenge.
“It’s very fact-intensive, and it always comes down to expert testimony as to what the standard of care was,” he explained.
The health care providers being sued are expected to argue that Lindsay’s mental health struggles were preexisting and that they “didn’t do anything to make it worse.”
While the two civil suits should generally not interfere with one another, Simon told NewsNation that the criminal case could have an impact on the civil lawsuits.
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If Lindsay is convicted, it would likely be admitted for the purpose of challenging Lindsay’s credibility if she testified, Simon explained.
It would, however, be up to a judge to decide how much of the underlying facts or the conviction that a jury could hear.
SOURCE: THE SUN
https://www.the-sun.com/news/16788535/lindsay-clancy-patrick-filed-lawsuits-kids-deaths/
