The ongoing murder trial of Lindsay Clancy has garnered attention to the psychiatric medications she was prescribed in the months before the deaths of her three children in January 2023.
Testimony from Clancy's treating psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner and medical records presented in court detailed frequent medication changes as doctors attempted to treat her severe insomnia, anxiety and depression.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Rebecca Jollotta, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at South Shore Health Perinatal Behavior Health Program, testified that she frequently communicated with Clancy via a patient portal in late November and early December of 2022.
Clancy's complaints of difficulty sleeping, her depressive symptoms, and her quest for the ideal combination of drugs to alleviate her problems dominated most of their discussions.
The defense argues the treatment failed to identify bipolar disorder with postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors maintain Clancy intentionally killed her children.
According to testimony, medical records and a medication timeline compiled from court proceedings, Clancy was prescribed or advised to take several medications between October 2022 and January 2023.
According to the filed lawsuit, Clancy sought psychiatric care in September 2022 after experiencing severe postpartum depression and anxiety. Dr. Jennifer Tufts prescribed Zoloft, but Clancy reportedly delayed taking it because she was breastfeeding. She began taking it in mid-October.
After increasing the dose from 25 mg to 50 mg, Clancy reported worsening anxiety, racing thoughts and nearly 48 hours without sleep. Her providers discontinued the medication.
Following the reaction to Zoloft, Tufts prescribed low-dose Ativan (lorazepam) and Benadryl to help with anxiety and insomnia.
According to Jolotta's testimony, Clancy later expressed concern that she could become dependent on Ativan. Psychiatric nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta reassured her that she was not addicted.
Lindsay's sleeplessness got so bad on November 16, 2022, that she went to South Shore Hospital's emergency room to get help. She complained of palpitations, nervousness, and insomnia. Trazodone was prescribed by the ER doctor for sleep, but it didn't work.
Four days later, nurse practitioner Julie Paul prescribed Prozac. Court records state Clancy stopped taking Prozac after four days because it reportedly worsened her insomnia.
On November 25, Nurse Paul prescribed Remeron (mirtazapine), Klonopin (clonazepam) and Ambien.
According to the civil complaint, Clancy soon reported dissociation, confusion and feeling disconnected from reality after taking Remeron. Around the end of November, Jollotta considered whether Clancy's symptoms could indicate bipolar disorder and prescribed Seroquel.
She later messaged Jollotta that she was experiencing "intrusive thoughts I never had before" and wanted to discontinue the medication.
When Jollotta called the couple in the middle of December, she was informed that Clancy had had her "worst day" and was "having persistent, intrusive thoughts of suicide." Jollotta advised her to think about receiving better care, like that provided by Massachusetts General Hospital.
She chose to enroll in the postpartum program at the Women and Infants Hospital in Rhode Island, but she was quickly released with instructions to cease taking one of her antipsychotic medications.
She felt better in the hospital and was released within 5 days after she requested she wanted to attend Cora's birthday.
She was back again with Tufts by January 6, who switched her medication to Valium for a Benzodiazepine taper. After Lindsay reported experiencing a “zombie” like feeling. Tufts then prescribed Amitriptyline—another antidepressant—at 10 mg per day. She then increased the dosage to 20 mg within 10 days on January 20, 2022.
On January 24, woke up severely depressed with suicidal thoughts and later that afternoon killed her three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, before she tried to kill herself by jumping out of her bedroom window.
Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues. Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats. Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments. She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More
