A psychiatric nurse who treated Lindsay Clancy told jurors that her husband reacted sharply when the possibility of bipolar disorder was raised months before she allegedly strangled the couple’s three young children.
Clancy, who turned 36 on Tuesday, is standing trial in the deaths of her children — Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan — inside the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in January 2023.
After the killings, prosecutors have said, Clancy attempted to take her own life. She survived, but the injuries left her paralyzed and permanently reliant on a wheelchair.
Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta testified Tuesday that Clancy’s ex-husband, Patrick, pushed back when she raised bipolar disorder as a possible diagnosis during an appointment in December 2022.
Jollotta said she explained to the couple that Lindsay’s response to Zoloft could point to an underlying bipolar condition.
According to Jollotta, Patrick replied bluntly: ‘My wife is not bipolar.’
Clancy, the nurse testified, simply looked at her and did not respond.
Lindsay Clancy, who turned 36 on Tuesday, is on trial for killing her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan
Nurse Rebecca Jollotta testified on Tuesday that Clancy’s ex-husband, Patrick, insisted she did not have bipolar disorder when she suggested in December 2022
Clancy has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges and claimed she is not responsible for her actions because she was suffering postpartum psychosis after being prescribed a powerful cocktail of drugs to cope with depression.
The prosecution has argued the killings were intentional and well planned, not the work of someone who had lost control.
The murder trial has been filled with emotional testimony, including from Patrick, who has since remarried.
On the day of the killings, Clancy asked Patrick to leave their home to get takeout food and to pick up something at a pharmacy.
Clancy allegedly strangled the children with exercise bands, then used multiple methods to try to end her own life.
Jurors heard Patrick’s harrowing 911 call the night he discovered their dead children, which brought the courtroom to tears.
He has publicly forgiven her and come out in her defense, describing her as a good mother who became ill.
‘My wife is not bipolar,’ Patrick responded, according to Jollotta. He has publicly forgiven her and come out in her defense, describing her as a good mother who became ill
Clancy strangled her children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan – back in January 2023, then attempted to kill herself
Both Patrick and Lindsay Clancy have filed separate lawsuits against several of her medical providers, including Jollotta, alleging that they overmedicated Clancy while treating her for postpartum mental health issues.
This overmedication led to her conditions worsening, and ultimately to the deaths of the children, the suits allege.
The civil suits are still making their way through the courts.
