How she sought help before she killed her children
The murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who killed her three children while suffering from postpartum psychosis, has brought scrutiny to the mental healthcare system. Defense attorneys argue that her medical providers failed to coordinate care or provide adequate treatment despite her repeated requests for help.
Why it matters
The case raises significant questions about the standard of care for postpartum mental health and the legal accountability of medical providers.
In the months before Lindsay Clancy killed her three children and tried to take her own life, she was desperate for help — she saw psychiatrists, called a suicide hotline, went to the emergency room and was turned away from inpatient treatment. She was put on 13 medications over four months as providers sought to treat her ongoing symptoms and adverse reactions to the medications. Clancy, 36, is accused of murdering her three children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — on Jan. 24, 2023, before she threw herself out her bedroom window in a suicide attempt. Prosecutors spent nearly six weeks presenting their case to jurors in the murder trial. They called 70 witnesses in an attempt to show that the mother planned the deaths, driving her husband from home so she could carry out the acts.
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