Exclusive | Is Lindsay Clancy really too sick to be guilty? Why experts agree with the defenses controversial claim

Nobody disputes that Lindsay Clancy killed her three young children.But three years later, her defense attorneys have put another defendant on trial: the mental health professionals and system responsible for her care.Clancy and her former husband, Patrick, have filed civil lawsuits against several medical professionals involved in her treatment, alleging negligence and wrongful death.As the 36-year-old Massachusetts mom faces murder charges, her lawyers argue that her worsening mental condition and repeated pleas for help went unanswered, and that too many psychiatric drugs were prescribed by multiple providers with little oversight.But is there a case for her doctors and care team to answer?The Post spoke with mental health and legal experts across the country who identified potential gaps in Clancy’s treatment — including fragmented care, the lack of coordination in her treatment, reliance on telehealth, and limited perinatal psychiatric expertise.Experts say her case highlights broader weaknesses in how the U.S.mental health system treats women with psychiatric symptoms during and after pregnancy.With the defense potentially resting on Monday, Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, argued Thursday that the case had exposed a message “reverberating” across the country.“I think that it’s the mental health system — I hate to use the word ‘health care,’ because unfortunately in this case we can see it hasn’t been health care,” Reddington said.Dr.

Daniel Bober, a psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor at the Yale Child Study Center, agreed the case has put America’s treatment of maternal mental illness under a microscope.“Particularly for new moms, we need to do a better job in this country with maternal mental health care,” he said.Postpartum depression affects roughly one in seven new mothers, but postpartum psychosis is far rarer — and more acute, affecting 1-2 women per 1000 births.“It’s a psychiatric emergency,” Dr.Megh...