Lindsay Clancy Trial: Doctor Never Ran a Depression Screening Before Discharge

In the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, a McLean Hospital psychiatrist spent today's session explaining exactly what she didn't do. Clancy, 34, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, is charged with strangling her three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 7-month-old Callan — with exercise resistance bands inside the family's Summer Street home on January 24, 2023. She faces three counts of murder and three counts of strangulation, has pleaded not guilty, and is pursuing an insanity defense through attorney Kevin Reddington, who argues she was suffering severe postpartum psychosis compounded by psychiatric overmedication.

Dr. Alia Goodheart testified under defense cross-examination that Clancy's discharge instructions consisted of directing her to the Psychology Today website and telling her to check her insurance for covered providers. Goodheart acknowledged she hadn't reviewed prior records from the nurse practitioners and other clinicians already treating Clancy, and confirmed Clancy had disclosed intrusive thoughts of suicide during her care. No blood tests were run. No screening tools were used — including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, a standard postpartum assessment that apparently never made it into the room. On redirect, prosecutors pointed to language in the discharge paperwork instructing Clancy to follow up with a personal provider, an attempt to put some of the burden back on the patient leaving the building.

Prosecutors are expected to argue Clancy understood the nature of her actions despite the defense's mental-health claims. After the killings, Clancy allegedly attempted to take her own life by jumping from a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Her husband, Patrick Clancy, was out of the home running errands at the time and has since relocated to Manhattan. The trial, underway in Plymouth Superior Court, is expected to last several weeks.

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Content on this site is based on publicly available information and reflects commentary and opinion. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Nothing published here constitutes legal, medical, or professional advice.

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