The Daily · Podcast summary
Lindsay Clancy Is on Trial. So Is Postpartum Psychosis.
In this episode of The Daily, Natalie Kitroeff speaks with Ellen Barry about the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a mother who killed her three children, and how the case has brought postpartum psychosis into the national spotlight.
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On January 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse from Duxbury, Massachusetts, strangled her three children, ages three, five, and eight months, before attempting to take her own life. The trial has captivated the country for weeks, not just because of the horrific nature of the crime, but because of the difficult questions it has raised about how we treat, or fail to treat, postpartum women who are in crisis. Natalie Kitroeff speaks with Ellen Barry, who has been in the courtroom every day of the trial, to understand the stakes of the outcome.
The Basic Facts of the Crime
Ellen Barry explains that Lindsay Clancy was a labor and delivery nurse living in Duxbury, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children: Cora, Dawson, and Callan. About three or four months after the birth of her third child, Clancy began complaining of symptoms like insomnia, anxiety, and depression. She sought help from a psychiatrist and started taking an antidepressant. However, over the next three months, despite a long series of prescriptions and seeing quite a few mental health providers, her condition seemed to worsen. One night at the end of January 2023, she asked her husband to pick up takeout for dinner, and while he was gone, she strangled all three of her children. She then went upstairs and tried to die by suicide. Clancy survived, though she is paralyzed, but her children did not. She was charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
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The full 6-minute article, 5 more sections, and every new episode from The Daily and the creators you follow.
- The Prosecution's Argument: Intentional and Rational
- The Defense's Argument: Postpartum Psychosis
- The Medical Care and Lack of Coordination
- Public Response and Support for Lindsay Clancy
- The Victims and the Larger Conversation
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