During Lindsay Clancy's murder trial, harrowing details of her private communications with a psychiatric nurse practitioner were presented to the court. Rebecca Jollotta, a nurse practitioner at South Shore Health, testified about messages sent by Clancy via the MyChart patient portal in late 2022, in the weeks leading up to the January 24, 2023, incident in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Clancy, then 32, was being treated in a postpartum program after the birth of her third child. The messages, sent between November and December 2022, detailed Clancy's struggles with severe anxiety, insomnia, and overwhelming hopelessness. "I feel like I'm going to die and I don't care," Clancy wrote in one message on December 2, 2022, expressing a sense of numbness and a fear that her condition was worsening.
Clancy's communications also revealed concerns about the medications she was taking, including fears of addiction to the anxiety drug Ativan and that the drugs were making her feel worse. "I feel addicted to it, and I feel like I'm not being heard that that is a possibility," she wrote. She also expressed intrusive thoughts of wanting her suffering to end.
Jollotta testified that she interpreted Clancy's messages as symptoms of postpartum depression and assured her that her intrusive thoughts were common and did not reflect on her abilities as a mother. The nurse practitioner stated she did not believe Clancy was experiencing suicidal ideation or drug addiction, instead viewing her symptoms as treatable. Jollotta prescribed Seroquel, Valium, and Lamictal during their brief treatment period.
In one communication, Clancy sought help, asking, "What can I do? I really need help." Jollotta eventually recommended Clancy for inpatient psychiatric care in mid-December due to persistent suicidal thoughts. Clancy voluntarily admitted herself to McLean Hospital on New Year's Day and remained for five days. Jollotta testified that during this period, Clancy discussed suicidal thoughts but never mentioned plans to harm herself or her children.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, is accused of strangling her three children—Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months—with exercise bands in their Duxbury home. She then allegedly slit her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window in an apparent suicide attempt. Clancy's defense has indicated she claims to have heard a voice commanding her to kill her children and herself, presenting a defense of lacking criminal responsibility due to postpartum psychosis.
During the trial, Clancy, who appeared in a wheelchair due to injuries from the incident, became visibly distressed as the details of her actions and the messages were read. She hyperventilated and sobbed, requiring the courtroom to be temporarily cleared twice. The full extent of the injuries inflicted on the children was presented to the jury through autopsy details and graphic testimony from medical examiners.
Jollotta faced cross-examination regarding her treatment of Clancy. She admitted to not contacting Clancy's other healthcare providers for records or information and not following up with Clancy after her discharge from McLean Hospital. Less than three weeks after her release from the psychiatric facility, the killings occurred.
Beyond Clancy's personal trial, the case has drawn public attention to the healthcare system's role. Civil lawsuits filed by Clancy and her ex-husband Patrick allege that poor treatment and over-medication worsened her condition and contributed to the children's deaths. The providers named in these suits have filed a motion to dismiss the claims. Supporters attending the trial have expressed outrage, believing Clancy was failed by the system and that her cries for help were not taken seriously enough.