{"id":854423,"date":"2026-08-11T17:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/854423\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:48:12","slug":"lindsay-clancy-repeatedly-asked-to-change-medications-psychiatric-nurse-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/854423\/","title":{"rendered":"Lindsay Clancy repeatedly asked to change medications, psychiatric nurse says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A psychiatric nurse practitioner who treated Lindsay Clancy testified Tuesday that the Massachusetts mother repeatedly asked to change her medications despite concerns about sticking to a treatment plan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rebecca Jollotta, a psychiatric nurse practitioner with South Shore Hospital\u2019s perinatal behavioral health program, had a telehealth visit with Clancy in late November 2022 and they agreed on a treatment for her anxiety and insomnia.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, Clancy sent messages over the following days asking to tweak the medications, saying they were causing intrusive thoughts, insomnia and numbness, Jollotta testified. Clancy also wrote that she was concerned about becoming dependent on the benzodiazepine Ativan.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a very scary stressful time for me, and starting new meds with side effects is very scary to me,\u201d Clancy wrote in one note.\n <\/p>\n

\n Jollotta responded she understood her concerns but advised that the medication takes several weeks to be effective, and told Clancy she believed her problems were more likely postpartum depression, rather than side effects from the drugs.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAll of this sounds like postpartum depression,\u201d Jollotta wrote.\n <\/p>\n

\n The testimony comes three weeks into Clancy\u2019s trial on three counts of murder in the killings of her children Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months. The trial has featured testimony about the lead-up to the killings and Clancy\u2019s struggles with post-partum anxiety, depression and insomnia \u2014 and stoked a nationwide conversation about the issues.\n <\/p>\n

\n Prosecutors have argued Clancy \u201cacted intentionally, rationally and swiftly\u201d when she fatally strangled her three children and attempted suicide at their Duxbury home on January 24, 2023.\n <\/p>\n

\n Her defense attorneys have argued what\u2019s known as the \u201cinsanity defense,\u201d saying she is not criminally responsible because she was in the midst of a psychotic episode stemming from postpartum mental illness.\n <\/p>\n

\n Her family, friends and mental health professionals have said Clancy did not show any signs of psychosis<\/a> before or after the killings and did not believe she was a danger to herself or her children. Yet those who knew her unanimously said she was a caring mother whose mental health was deteriorating. Clancy told one friend in January 2023 that a medication caused her to have \u201csome dark thoughts,\u201d the friend testified.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tuesday marks Clancy\u2019s 36th birthday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Testimony began two weeks ago with opening statements and an emotional witness account from her husband, Patrick Clancy<\/a>. Last week\u2019s testimony focused<\/a> on her mental health status before and after the killings, her physical injuries from her suicide attempt, and her friends\u2019 and family\u2019s concerns.\n <\/p>\n

\n The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. Clancy faces life in prison if convicted of murder. She is being held at the public Tewksbury Hospital in Massachusetts, which specializes in treating those with mental illness.\n <\/p>\n

Doctors and nurses speak on Clancy\u2019s mental health<\/p>\n

\n On Monday, Clancy\u2019s defense attorney Kevin Reddington sharply questioned Dr. Jennifer Tufts, Clancy\u2019s primary psychiatrist, about her treatment plan and her expertise.\n <\/p>\n

\"22883627<\/p>\n

Defense for Lindsay Clancy questions psychiatrist who treated her\n <\/p>\n

The jury heard testimony from Dr. Jennifer Tufts, Lindsay Clancy\u2019s primary psychiatrist whose last visit with Clancy was the day before the Massachusetts mother killed her three small children. Clancy\u2019s defense \u2013 who aggressively cross-examined Tufts on Monday \u2013 has admitted to the killings but said she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and was not \u201ccriminally responsible.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defense for Lindsay Clancy questions psychiatrist who treated her<\/p>\n

2:21<\/p>\n

\n Tufts saw Clancy 14 times between September 2022 to January 2023, repeatedly adjusting her prescriptions as Clancy grappled with anxiety, depression and insomnia. She also provided counseling support.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI listened to her, listened to her concerns, provided support, tried to provide her with hope that things would improve,\u201d Tufts said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Reddington challenged Tufts on her qualifications and experience, her use of telemedicine, her many prescriptions and her notes. He repeatedly cut off her answers with follow-up questions, leading to objections from the prosecution and admonishments from the judge.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf I ask you a question, respectfully, can you just not go on and ramble? Answer yes or no, that\u2019s all,\u201d Reddington said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s sometimes impossible to do that,\u201d Tufts responded.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tufts finished her residency in August 2022 and saw Clancy for the first time a month later. She testified she had treated at least 50 people with postpartum issues during her residency.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tufts\u2019 and Clancy\u2019s 14 visits were all conducted via telemedicine, and this trial is the first time they have been in the same room together, Tufts testified. Reddington challenged her use of telemedicine and noted she couldn\u2019t even give Clancy a hug over the computer.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t give her a hug, but that\u2019s not actually something psychiatrists typically do with patients,\u201d Tufts said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tufts said she almost exclusively relied on Clancy\u2019s own statements in evaluating her mental health. She did not speak to Clancy\u2019s parents and only spoke to her husband at one session in December 2022.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Monday afternoon, Julie Paul, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, testified that Clancy in November 2022 had anxiety, felt overwhelmed and had racing thoughts, conditions that are \u201cvery typical\u201d for postpartum patients. Paul prescribed Clancy Prozac and advised her that the medication takes some time to see benefits, but within days Clancy reported she wanted to switch to a different medication.\n <\/p>\n

\n It was part of a pattern for Clancy, who took about a dozen different medications between late 2022 and January 2023, according to testimony in the trial.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI keep reaching out to different people and not sticking with the plan,\u201d Clancy said, according to Tufts.\n <\/p>\n

\n This is a developing story and will be updated.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A psychiatric nurse practitioner who treated Lindsay Clancy testified Tuesday that the Massachusetts mother repeatedly asked to change…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[49,48,84,377,297188,297187,297186,297189],"class_list":["post-854423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-underscored-health-fitness","tag-underscored-one-off","tag-underscored-pop-culture","tag-underscored-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}