Earlier this year, Patrick and Lindsay Clancy filed separate lawsuits alleging malpractice and negligence against the providers who treated Lindsay for her postpartum mental health issues.
Lindsay Clancy, 35, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, is on trial for first-degree murder in the deaths of her children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. She admits to killing them but is claiming “lack of criminal responsibility,” also known as the insanity defense, based on postpartum mental illness.
Lindsay and Patrick Clancy are now divorced, and Patrick Clancy has remarried.
The civil lawsuits, filed in Norfolk Superior Court, say the providers and their employers failed to properly diagnose and monitor Lindsay Clancy, instead prescribing her a mix of psychiatric medications that worsened her condition and eventually led to the deaths of her children.
The lawsuits describe Lindsay Clancy’s attempts to get psychiatric help after the birth of her third child, in May 2022, until January 2023, when the Duxbury mom allegedly strangled her three children before attempting suicide by jumping out of a second story window. Prosecutors say Lindsay Clancy premeditated the alleged murder of her children, while the defense claims she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis.
Here’s what to know about the two lawsuits.
Who are the defendants?
Patrick Clancy’s lawsuit, which was filed in January on behalf of himself and the estates of his children, names two providers and their employers.
They include Dr. Jennifer Tufts, a psychiatrist at Aster Mental Health whom Lindsay contacted in September 2022, and Rebecca Jollotta, a psychiatric mental health nurse at South Shore Health System who started treating Lindsay that November.
Lindsay Clancy’s lawsuit names 11 defendants, including 7 individual providers. In addition to the defendants in Patrick Clancy’s suit, Lindsay Clancy is also suing five other individual providers, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, and McLean Hospital in Belmont.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the health system that operates the Women & Infants Hospital said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Aster Mental Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for South Shore Health said it “cares deeply about and prioritizes the safety of our patients and their families and always strives to provide excellent care.”
“Given patient privacy laws and that this matter is now in litigation, we cannot comment on the specifics in the lawsuit,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
A spokesperson for McLean Hospital said it is “committed to providing high-quality mental health care for individuals and families,” which “includes advancing the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health conditions that uniquely affect women, including postpartum mental health conditions.”
“Due to privacy laws, we cannot comment on any specific patient. We mourn the tragic loss of three children and the allegations in this case,” the spokesperson wrote.
What are the allegations?
The lawsuits say the providers failed to properly diagnose and treat Clancy even as she told them of worsening symptoms.
Prosecutors in Clancy’s criminal trial have suggested she did not take her medication as prescribed and have questioned the severity of her mental illness.
The civil suits describe approximately four months of Clancy seeking mental health care, beginning in September 2022.
The lawsuits say her providers should have performed tests to determine why Lindsay Clancy was having adverse reactions to her medication, including the antidepressants Zoloft and Prozac.
“Lab work should have been performed in order to ensure that Lindsay was metabolizing medications she was being prescribed at a normal rate,” Patrick Clancy’s lawsuit reads. “However, no lab work was done.”
Throughout her treatment, Lindsay Clancy reportedly told her providers that she thought her symptoms — which included worsening insomnia, depression, and suicidal ideation — were caused by her medication.
Clancy’s providers also missed repeated signs of bipolar disorder and mania, the lawsuits claim. According to her suit, her insomnia after taking several different antidepressants was “a critical red flag for bipolar disorder that the providers failed to recognize.”
While she was admitted to a partial day program at Women & Infants Hospital in mid-December, one psychiatrist said Lindsay Clancy had “no postpartum depression” and said she didn’t have bipolar because there was no family history. But the psychiatrists’ notes indicated Lindsay Clancy’s sister had postpartum anxiety, “a relevant family psychiatric history that should have been explored,” according to her suit.
Lindsay was admitted to a program for patients with postpartum depression at McLean Hospital at the end of December 2022, reporting symptoms including passive suicidal ideation, feeling detached, and hopelessness.
There, the lawsuits allege she received “grossly inadequate care” with a “skeleton crew” due to the New Year’s holiday, Lindsay Clancy’s lawsuit reads.
After being discharged, the lawsuits allege her providers did not perform adequate follow-ups despite noting her poor mental state.
After resuming care with Tufts in January 2023, Tufts reportedly documented Lindsay’s condition as “deteriorating.”
Emily Spatz can be reached at emily.spatz@globe.com. Follow her on X @emilymspatz.