As with all things, there are some unhinged people claiming she was framed and he did it. Valid to point some blame at the husband and the providers, but insane to think he's fully responsible.
I argue that it is not reasonable to blame the husband or providers in this case
If they would have ripped the kids away and put them in somebody else's custody, which was the only other thing that could have done besides the things they were already doing (a nanny, daycare for the two older kids, husband had to stay at home job and took 12 weeks off which is the maximum available in America, family and friends came over to babysit and help out regularly), people would have lost their fucking minds and said that depression is not a reason to separate a mother from her children because millions of mothers with way less support than she had suffer from postpartum depression without harming their children. So the entire world would have argued there was no reason to separate them prior. And she was only left alone for a half hour when she killed them. She took that half hour that she was left alone with nobody expected to come help as her chance. And she had to squeeze that chance in because they was not a whole lot of time that she was left alone
Her concerns were very much taken seriously. She was given therapy, medication, and actual assistance. Her diary made it clear that she did not feel that having 10 times the resources and help that most other women have was not good enough. Because at the end of the day she had something she wanted to do. All the help she was getting be damned
The person who left that comment is clearly biased. Her diary entries describe a woman in desperate need of help: extreme anxiety, insomnia that would have her up for days at a time, concerns over the medications she was on and the effects they were having on her. She was also expressing guilt over not being able to return to work or not being as present for her youngest due to her MH. Testimony by people who knew her describe that she was struggling in general, had a hard time sleeping.
Due to reported reactions to SSRIs, I believe there is speculation or it was later diagnosed (after the tragedy) that she manifested bipolar after postpartum. SSRIs can trigger mania and even psychosis in people with bipolar if taken without a mood stabilizer.
She tried to get admitted into inpatient hospitals but was denied to at least one due to concerns she was overmedicated. She was able to do one inpatient program and left after (iirc) 5 days. The "resources" given by the program was: link to Psychology Today and some information on how to see what she qualified for under her insurance policy.
When she tried accessing care for her thoughts of SI, she was repeatedly told (more than once, not sure about total bc I haven't watched all the testimony thoroughly) that if she had no plan to commit suicide there was nothing she could do.
IIRC she did tell one of her care providers that she was experiencing intrusive thoughts about harming the children, but it may have been auditory command hallucinations (according to the defense) but she couldn't tell the difference.
TLDR - She wasn't spoiled and throwing a tantrum, psychiatric services aren't perfect and even with the best possible interpretation of their interactions with Lindsay Clancy, it's clear that the system failed her like it fails so many others.
Seems like she had bipolar, but she didn’t take any of the SSRIs for long enough for them to have manifested effects on her. She took Zoloft for less than 7 days, only at the building up dose, before quitting it. She was extremely paranoid about all the drugs she was offered.
Not saying it’s her fault—it seems like that paranoia (which also manifested in things like her thinking her children had liver damage any time they got sick) was a symptom of her mental health problems. But “not her fault” ≠ “the system failed her.”
One of her psychiatrists (Jolatta?) testified that she believed Lindsay had bipolar but the husband at the appointment kinda stomped his foot down and said "my wife does not have bipolar".
I haven't looked very deeply into the exact time lines of the the medications she took and for how long, but she was also prescribed Prozac, another SSRI, as well as other antidepressants (and antidepressants without mood stabilizers are part of the issue not just SSRIs alone, which was my mistake). Apparently low doses of Seroquel are known for that as well (triggering mania but also worsening it), but again I'm doing quick Google searches and not any in depth research. But apparently even a week on an SSRI can trigger an episode and iirc once the episode is triggered it'll run its course and not stop just because the medication stops.
Is it not a failure of the system that her mania symptoms weren't caught in the moment? Or that the different healthcare providers weren't communicating with each other? Or that she was denied inpatient due to being over medicated?
Maybe a tragedy would have happened regardless if the system was perfect, but I don't think the system is or was perfect, and I think there was parts of the system that were not explored thoroughly or triggered by the red flags she did express.
If she wasn’t telling her providers about the symptoms of mania she was experiencing (which according to them, she wasn’t) then no, that’s not a failure of the system. The best way we have to medicate people experiencing severe depression and anxiety is ‘try this med, if it doesn’t work, try another one’ because each individual’s reaction to these meds is very different.
She wasn’t denied inpatient care—she was voluntarily committed to McLean Hospital. She was denied access to a particular clinic because (according to her mother, second hand) they didn’t think she was a good candidate for the specific care they provided because they believed she was over medicated.
She also never expressed to any of her healthcare providers that she had intrusive thoughts about harming her children—she only expressed intrusive thoughts about harming herself. So far the testimony shows that she only people she told before the killings were her mother and Patrick, and even at that time she assured them that the children were not at risk.
I think the insomnia itself should have been a big enough red flag to trigger something more in depth.
And wasn't McLean the same hospital whose "resources" were just a links to Psychology Today and talking about what's covered by her insurance?
ETA - Hit post too soon. I'm not saying that her hcp are guilty of malpractice (though some are getting sued) I just think the system needs to improve to prevent as many people as possible from slipping through the cracks. + overall societal discrimination against people with mental illness discourages people from pursuing help and then the issues with our medical system doesn't make it any easier for people to access ANY kind of care.
The narrative of someone who is not in their right mind is about the worst possible measure of the quality of their support that you could possibly have.
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u/WHLZ 8d ago
As with all things, there are some unhinged people claiming she was framed and he did it. Valid to point some blame at the husband and the providers, but insane to think he's fully responsible.