When postpartum symptoms escalate: The clinical questions at the center of the Lindsay Clancy trial
Industry Buzz
This is a sign that someone is responding extremely poorly to medications. And that should be a clue to anyone looking after her that, hey, more drugs is likely not the answer to this person. This nervous system is not responding well to these medications.
—Josef Witt-Doerring, MD, via YouTube
No woman or mom in her ‘right mind’ would kill her children, period. This is not a monster. This is someone who has lost touch with reality for psychiatric reasons; they are severely psychiatrically ill.
—Catherine Birndorf, MD, via HealthCentral
A former Massachusetts labor-and-delivery nurse is on trial after being charged in connection with the strangulation deaths of her three children in 2023.[]
Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three charges of first-degree murder.[] Prosecutors say that she killed her children—ages 5, 3, and 8 months—at the family’s home on January 24, 2023, before attempting suicide. Clancy survived jumping from a second-story window and now uses a wheelchair.[][]
Her defense argues that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis—a rare but severe psychiatric emergency—and was not criminally responsible for the alleged acts. Prosecutors allege that she acted deliberately.[]
A difficult case reaches trial
In the months after the birth of her third child, Clancy reportedly sought care for worsening mental health symptoms.[]
She sought care from experts in postpartum mood disorders. Her treatment included postpartum mood disorder specialists, psychiatric medications, and an inpatient psychiatric admission.[]
Clancy’s former husband, Patrick, who found the children’s bodies after returning home on the day of the killings, was the first witness called when testimony began on July 27.[] He described Clancy as a devoted mother while also recounting her deteriorating mental health after the birth of their third child. He told jurors that her symptoms could be difficult to interpret because she could still appear engaged with the children and their daily routines.
According to evidence presented in court, she was prescribed 13 different medications by several providers between September 2022 and January 2023.[] Prosecutors alleged that it appeared Clancy had taken only a fraction of the pills she’d been prescribed. Patrick testified that he was not aware of how much medication Clancy had or had not taken.[]
He said that his former wife’s “big spiral” occurred in December 2022, when she began taking Seroquel. Clancy told Patrick that she was suicidal and had intrusive thoughts about hurting their children. Patrick testified that he was not concerned for their safety at the time because Clancy did not show any intention of hurting them.[]
Despite months of psychiatric care, changing medications, and seeking out new providers, Clancy’s condition worsened. She became more depressed and lost weight, according to Patrick’s testimony.[]
Clancy’s lawyer claims she had postpartum psychosis as well as bipolar disorder, and that the antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition.[]
If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.[]
Related: Why better screening and treatment are needed for postpartum depressionThe clinical challenges this case brings into focus
In separate civil lawsuits filed in early 2026, both Clancy and her former husband allege that Clancy’s healthcare providers failed to properly diagnose and treat her condition, continued prescribing antidepressants after Clancy began experiencing “activation” symptoms, failed to explore what Clancy meant when she described having “intrusive thoughts,” failed to coordinate care, and did not adequately involve Clancy’s family in her care.[][]
In a video about the case, psychiatrist Josef Witt-Doerring, MD, CEO and medical director at TaperClinic, said the defense’s account of events raises questions about whether escalation of insomnia, dissociation, and mood changes were adequately recognized during a period of rapid medication changes.[]
After Clancy began experiencing an episode of postpartum anxiety and depression following the birth of her third child, she reached out to her doctor, who prescribed Zoloft. Clancy had an adverse reaction, experiencing racing thoughts, worsening anxiety, and did not sleep for 48 hours. Dr. Witt-Doerring alleges that this presentation is a warning sign of medication-induced activation consistent with bipolar disorder.[]
“This is a sign that someone is responding extremely poorly to medications. And that should be a clue to anyone looking after her that hey, more drugs is likely not the answer to this person. This nervous system is not responding well to these medications,” he says.[]
Catherine Birndorf, MD, a reproductive psychiatrist and founding director of the Payne Whitney Women’s Program at Weill Cornell Medicine-New York-Presbyterian Hospital, tells HealthCentral, “No woman or mom in her ‘right mind’ would kill her children, period. This is not a monster. This is someone who has lost touch with reality for psychiatric reasons; they are severely psychiatrically ill.”[]
"[The insanity defense] is not a loophole,” Yalda Safai, MD, psychiatrist, said in an Instagram Reel. “It’s a legal Hail Mary that almost never works. And when it does work, what happens? It doesn’t mean freedom. ... The defendant does not go home. They’re not acquitted. They are committed to a psychiatric facility, often for longer than they would have served in prison.”