In the four months leading up to the deaths of her three children, Lindsay Clancy was prescribed 13 psychiatric medications by multiple providers, including psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, emergency department doctors, and staff at an inpatient psychiatric program, according to a Globe review of court records.
The medications included antidepressants like Zoloft, antipsychotics like Seroquel, sedatives like Benadryl, benzodiazepines like Valium, and the mood stabilizer Lamictal.
Even as Clancy continued to seek help, her symptoms worsened as she experienced insomnia, major depression, anxiety and, ultimately, hallucinations, according to a lawsuit she filed against her providers in January.
Clancy is on trial for first-degree murder for the deaths of her three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. She is mounting an insanity defense, claiming she was in the throes of severe postpartum mental illness and could not resist a voice in her head telling her to kill her children and herself on Jan. 23, 2023.
Earlier this year, Lindsay Clancy and her ex-husband Patrick Clancy filed separate civil suits against her providers. Lindsay Clancy’s lawyers allege that between October 2022 and January 2023, she was overprescribed medications and misdiagnosed by experts who failed to recognize signs of bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, as Clancy’s symptoms continued to worsen.
Her attorneys argue that Clancy did everything she could to get treatment, but her clinical course was complicated by “polypharmacy and the involvement of multiple prescribers,” meaning no single provider had a complete picture of her rapidly deteriorating mental state.
“The tragedy that followed was the direct and proximate result of the Defendants’ collective negligence in failing to recognize obvious warning signs, coordinate care, properly diagnose Lindsay’s condition, and provide treatment that met the applicable standard of care,” according to her civil suit filed in January against five providers.
Providers including Dr. Jennifer Tufts at Aster Mental Health Inc., McLean Hospital, and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island did not respond to requests from the Globe for comment. South Shore Health System declined to comment.
It’s unclear how many medications Clancy took at one time, as her clinicians continually adjusted her dosages, stopped some medications and started others.
Drugs classified as SSRIs that are often used to treat anxiety and depression can worsen the symptoms of bipolar disorder, said Dr. Crystal Schiller, director of the Center for Women’s Mood Disorders at the University of North Carolina.
“SSRIs can trigger mania in some people with an underlying predisposition to bipolar disorder,” she said. “They work for many, many people, but they have to be monitored closely.”
Clinicians have labeled the 12-week period after birth as the “fourth trimester,” which some experts argue is when mothers need the most care but often receive the least.
One 2024 study found Massachusetts had more than four psychiatrists who specialize in perinatal issues for every 5,000 births, one of the best ratios in the nation.
Globe reporter Jason Laughlin contributed to this report.
Sarah Rahal can be reached at sarah.rahal@globe.com. Follow her on X @SarahRahal_ or Instagram @sarah.rahal.