Lindsay Clancy: Midwife mom with postpartum depression was released from psychiatric hospital 3 weeks before strangling kids
DUXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS: Lindsay Musgrove Clancy reportedly checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for treatment of her acute postpartum depression just three weeks before she strangled her three young children to death. The 32-year-old midwife mother, who is left paralyzed after attempting to take her own life, is facing at least two counts of murder and other charges for the deaths of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and eight-month-old Callan Clancy on January 24.
Lindsay’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, recently revealed that the mother checked herself into the McLean Hospital, for postpartum depression, in Belmont on January 1. She allegedly spent five days there during which she complained about becoming addicted to benzodiazepines. After Lindsay’s complaints, doctors at the hospital took her off Seroquel and gave Trazodone, another anti-depressant, and Ativan, a branded version of Lorazepam. She was soon discharged from the hospital but the circumstances surrounding her release are still unclear. It is also unclear if she told doctors about her homicidal thoughts, according to DailyMail.
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Why was Lindsay Clancy released from the psychiatric hospital?
Reddington further revealed that Lindsay went to the doctors after being discharged from McLean, but didn’t specify what drugs she was given at that time. He previously noted that the mother was on 12 prescribed medicated drugs between October 2022 and January 2023. However, a spokesperson for the hospital declined to provide information about Lindsay’s treatment or release. "Due to federal privacy laws and our ethical standards, we are unable to comment on specific patient cases. The complexities of mental health are different for each individual and similarly, treatment strategies vary depending on each person’s unique needs," the spokesperson noted, as reported by Daily Mail. "Whether it be proven and effective medications, psychotherapy, peer support, complementary and alternative medicine, or a combination of multiple approaches, it is important that any care plan be evidence-based and derived from patient-centered discussions and shared decision making."
Lindsay’s attorney, in the previous hearing, claimed that the mother had become a shell of herself after the birth of her third child, and that her condition kept deteriorating. Reddington said Lindsay’s case is a tragic failure by "society" to assist new mothers suffering from postpartum depression. "Our society fails miserably in treating women with postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis. It's "medicate, medicate, medicate". Throw the pills at you and see how it works," he stated.
Did Lindsay Clancy deliberately kill her children?
While Reddington is blaming the postpartum depression and medication for Lindsay’s action, the prosecutors are alleging that it was a premeditated crime and that she deliberately sent Patrick out to 'create' the opportunity to kill the kids. They claim Lindsay acted with ‘extreme cruelty’ and even had control over her senses. The prosecutors further noted that she had been behaving normally in the days before the incident, and that she had only referred to having slight 'post-partum anxiety' in notes found on her iPhone. They also cited notes in which she expressed "resentment" against the elder two children for preventing her from "loving Callan as he was her first baby."