00:00Defense lawyer takes aim at psychiatrist's care before Lindsay Clancy killed her three kids.
00:05AP Lindsay Clancy's lawyer probed her psychiatrist's expertise, prescribing decisions and overall
00:12treatment as the defense sought Monday to suggest that the mental health care system
00:16mishandled the Massachusetts mother's decline in the months before she killed her three young
00:21children. In questioning Dr. Jennifer Tufts, defense lawyer Kevin Reddington spotlighted
00:26her use of 25-minute video appointments with limited time for talk therapy, the computerized
00:32forms that documented her observations, and the series of pharmaceuticals she recommended
00:37as Clancy reported various side effects, symptoms, and concerns about taking medications.
00:44Reddington portrayed Clancy's care not as common practice in U.S. mental health care,
00:48but rather as inadequate and indifferent treatment of a deteriorating patient.
00:53At one point, Reddington implied that the doctor was a box-checking robot.
00:58Her attorneys say Clancy did everything she could to seek help. She turned to multiple
01:03outpatient providers, tried various drugs they prescribed, called a suicide hotline,
01:08went to an emergency room, and approached but wasn't accepted into a hospital-based
01:12full-day treatment program for women with post-pregnancy mental health problems.
01:17Clancy then even checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for several days.
01:22Rather than improving, her condition worsened on the ever-remixed cocktail of psychiatric medications,
01:28some of them problematic for bipolar patients, her attorneys and family say.
01:33Tufts noted that it can be difficult to tell whether such conditions as depression are continuing
01:38because of a medicine or despite it. Psychiatrist says Clancy never indicated she'd harm her kids.
01:45Tufts saw Clancy, via video, from September 2022 until the day before the killings.
01:51Her diagnosis, generalized anxiety disorder and an adjustment disorder with depressed mood.
01:57The psychiatrist testified that Clancy never told her about manic episodes,
02:02a criterion for bipolar diagnoses, nor about hearing voices or having other signs of psychosis.
02:09Clancy at times said she was close to feeling suicidal, hopeless, or like she was going to die.
02:15Tufts recalled. But she said Clancy denied having a plan to take her own life or harm anyone else and
02:22never revealed, as the defense says she did to her husband, that she had thoughts about harming the
02:27children. I would have been very concerned if I had heard that, Tufts said. Clancy is suing Tufts and
02:33other practitioners in civil court. I do not believe that I've been negligent. Tufts testified in the
02:39Criminal Trial Monday as Reddington questioned how much experience she had treating post-pregnancy
02:44conditions before Clancy came to her. Tufts finished her psychiatric residency training in July 2022
02:50and joined a private practice the month before Clancy's first appointment.
02:55Nurse practitioner testifies about treating Clancy. As Tufts left court after two days of testimony,
03:02Clancy sat still in her wheelchair with her knitted hands to her face,
03:05looking downward at the defense table. Prosecutors went on to question psychiatric
03:10nurse practitioner and nurse midwife Julie Paul, a pregnancy and post-pregnancy specialist whom
03:16Clancy consulted briefly in November 2022. Their interactions spanned about 10 days,
03:22as Paul was leaving for another job. Paul testified that Clancy came to her with concerns about
03:28medications she'd been using for sleep, and that led to a few reshufflings as Clancy continued
03:33reporting various symptoms and seeking new solutions by the day. Trial and error switching
03:38isn't unusual in psychiatry, said Paul, who also said Clancy never told her of any thoughts of harming
03:44herself or her children or having any hallucinations. Reddington will have his chance to question Paul on
03:50Tuesday. If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a
03:58lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
04:02Nurse practitioner testifies about treating Clancy. As Tufts left court after two days of testimony,
04:09Clancy sat still in her wheelchair with her knitted hands to her face, looking downward at the defense
04:15table. Prosecutors went on to question psychiatric nurse practitioner and nurse midwife Julie Paul,
04:20a pregnancy and post-pregnancy specialist whom Clancy consulted briefly in November 2022.
04:27Their interactions spanned about 10 days, as Paul was leaving for another job. Paul testified that Clancy
04:34came to her with concerns about medications she'd been using for sleep, and that led to a few reshufflings
04:39as Clancy continued reporting various symptoms and seeking new solutions by the day.
04:44Trial and error switching isn't unusual in psychiatry, said Paul, who also said Clancy never told her of
04:51any thoughts of harming herself or her children or having any hallucinations. Reddington will have
04:56his chance to question Paul on Tuesday. If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without
05:02parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state
05:09mental health facility.
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