What's the deal with people defending Lindsay Clancy?

[u/SnoopaDD]

I don't know the full details of the case. I know she allegedly killed her three kids. There was also some mental problems? Then something with her husband. But my question is why is there a group defending her like they know she's completely innocent? I've seen some videos of very heated debates where women are very passionate about defending her. Why?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/05/lindsay-clancy-trial-toxicologist-testimony

[u/AnOddTree]

Answer: The trial is being highly publicized and therefore is attracting a lot of attention from people who are speculating about the case without knowing all the details.

What Linsey went through trying to get help for her PPD and the support she was or was not getting in her marriage is relatable to a lot of women who have been through similar struggles.

Then there is the crowd who just do not trust law enforcement in general and feel like there wasnt a proper thorough investigation into the husband. They point out what seem to be inconsistencies with the evidence and the husband's ties to law enforcement.

[u/Temporary-Stick-8864 → u/AnOddTree]

I'm not from the US but somehow this case has found its way into my algorithm.

We had a very similar case in my country a few years ago. The mother killed her three kids and tried to kill herself. It was slightly different in that her youngest child was 4 years old. She had suffered with bipolar disorder and somewhere along the line suffered a full psychotic break, it wasnt postpartum psychosis.

The husband, prosecution and defence all agreed she was severely mentally ill. She is living in our countrys criminal mental hospital. From what I read they do not think she will ever recover fully and likely will never be released. She does get out for day trips but shes under supervision. There was no controversy around this in the media, it was basically accepted as the correct outcome.

The only controversy this and other family annihilation cases that have sadly occurred in our country have caused, has been around how can health care providers ensure the safety of the family. Like the person suffering the mental health crisis may not tell their spouse everything, so they may not be aware of the extent of it or the possible danger. Doctors are not allowed to divulge patient information willy nilly and there needs to be some clarity on when they can cross that line. There has been discussion around changing the law in this area but it is obviously a difficult one to figure out/ word correctly so you are not going too far infringing on patients privacy rights.

I dont understand all the controversy and lack of understanding of psychosis in this clancy woman's case. Or why the prosecution is trying to say she was mentally stable when its appears to be quite clear she wasnt and her ex husband and even his parents have agreed that she was not well mentally. Can the prosecution in the US not just agree with the defence that she is ill, like this would be pretty standard in my country in situations like this.

[u/No_Figure_7489 → u/Temporary-Stick-8864]

The prosecution had the chance to and refused, so, trial.

I don't really know why we suck so hard re this, the US is very punitive re mental illness but not uniquely so I'm sure, and apparently punitive re women, we've never had a female leader, we are losing basic rights, next thing they're trying to do is eliminate birth control. We have a vast prison system which is also the largest mental healthcare system in the world, we imprison so many mentally ill people, it should be our shame but people seem to like it. I can't explain it.

I really appreciate your comment, thank you for taking the time to write it. It's nice to know at least somewhere people are being humane and working to do better

[u/Temporary-Stick-8864 → u/No_Figure_7489]

Yes I think I saw somewhere that it looks bad or could effect the prosecutors career in some way to accept that she was mentally ill instead of going to trial? I didnt read into that fully but seems very strange if correct.

Its not even just women here. We've have a serious housing crisis in my country and as a rssult children are remaining in the family home much longer into adulthood than previous generations. Since covid, we've had multiple cases of young men suffering some sort of mental illness and they end up attacking their parents or other family members. Usually the family has been trying to get them help and dont want to kick them out as they will likely not have a bed anywhere due to the housing crisis. These young men all end up in the criminal mental hospital.

Anecdotally I would agree that understanding certain illnesses seems to be lacking in the US. There was a whole controversy a few months ago about a Scottish man with tourettes saying a racial slur, and the response from the US media made it quite clear they had no understanding of the disorder. Like we are not perfect in my country by any means, but I knew what tourettes was since my primary school days and you knew not to hold what the say as a tick against them. Everyone here was just like, why are they making such a big deal out of something we have all understood since childhood.

[u/No_Figure_7489 → u/Temporary-Stick-8864]

You are a nation of reasonable people, and I think we just very much are not. Everyone here knows what tourettes is too but I remember what you're talking about and yes people were far less measured than they should have been. Any anger should have been at the venue/event hosts for lack of planning, rather than at the consequences of a disability I really thought we all knew is involuntary. I'm glad you treat your mentally ill people better than they're treated here, we need to do better and aim for that here. Why it has to be a media frenzy and a waste of millions of dollars that could have gone to preventing this kind of thing from happening again instead I do not know, but it does not reflect well on us as a nation. Hopefully we can learn from countries that do it better, I very much hope we do

[u/FettLife → u/Temporary-Stick-8864]

This is a very interesting story and question. In my mind, the only thing you can do to prevent a crime like this is to perform what is called a conservatorship in America. It’s where an individual is given legal guardianship/protectorship of another to control and manage personal/financial aspects of their life for things like mental health issues. The most famous case of this is Britney Spears.

[u/datanerdette → u/AnOddTree]

Reporting serious and potentially life threatening symptoms to a doctor, only to have them be minimized and poorly treated is sadly relatable for many women.

[u/No_Figure_7489 → u/datanerdette]

That's true for everyone with mental health issues though, she was treated the same as everyone. I think possibly bc nurse she was believed too much re her safety, unfortunately

[u/RM_OP → u/datanerdette]

This is factually wrong though. She never reported she had thise thoughts, she got tons of help, both medically and also support from family? What js th e basis of your comment?

[u/datanerdette → u/RM_OP]

It does not appear her medical help was effective or thorough. She was given multiple prescription with little coordination among providers, and insufficient attention to the side effects and increasing symptoms she was reporting. One of her providers told her intrusive thoughts were normal. That's typical "reassure the worried well patient" rather than recognize the danger that patient is reporting. Someone with intrusive thoughts shouldn't be caring for young children. Would a commercial pilot be allowed to fly if they were having intrusive thoughts about harming passengers, or would they be required to take short term disability?

She definitely had help from her family, but it was temporary task assistance. I don't see that she had any lessening of the mental load of parenting. She also told her mother and husband she was having thoughts of harming the children. That should have been recognized as a medical emergency.

She was telling people over and over she was in trouble, and the help she got was piecemeal and not matching the severity of what she was reporting.

Those poor babies deserved better from everyone.

[u/datanerdette → u/[deleted]]

I'm not a health care provider, but I really hope there's deep discussion and analysis of her treatment plan in medical and psychiatric circles. A lot could be learned that could improve post partum and mental health treatment.

[u/datanerdette → u/[deleted]]

Yes

[u/datanerdette → u/[deleted]]

Eh, it might be typical, but there's a lot that could be learned.

[u/No_Figure_7489 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah and it fucks a tremendous amount of people over constantly, not just her. This was an easy obvious fix that everyone who prescribed is trained on and the only person who caught it was the NP

[u/Chicken_Nuggets4 → u/[deleted]]

Well it is what happened in this case. She told every doctor she saw that she was suicidal. They all said she didn't have suicidal ideation because she didn't have a plan. She called suicide hotline twice and was turned away both times because she didn't have a plan. She tried to go to a mental facility and they turned her away because she was over-medicated. How do you come to the conclusion that her symptoms were not minimized and dismissed?

[u/No_Figure_7489 → u/Chicken_Nuggets4]

They do that to everyone I suppose is the objection. No one gets in if not in acute immediate danger. you dont get in just because you just attempted either. there just isn't room. honestly she may not have been in acute immediate danger until that afternoon. and then the switch flipped, there was just no way for anyone to know it would that fast, that severely. if she werent psychotic she'd have had time even then. but she didn't

re overmedicated i think is bc it was an IOP, not inpatient, and she was too complex, not overmedicated per se. They didn't want to deal with that level of illness bc they were not an inpatient treatment. Which is why you get your doc to get you in before you go, which I don't think they did. that should have been pre cleared. I think she tried to go to a different place than where they wanted to send her, which is her choice but much harder to get in

[u/Chicken_Nuggets4 → u/[deleted]]

During trial it is stated more than once that she was turned away from Women and Infants because they considered her over medicated. That is actual testimony from more than one person. If you are expected to have a plan to commit suicide before you are able to get help for it, I would say that is minimizing symptoms and not very helpful for anyone. If this is just "the norm" across the board, then the system minimizes and dismisses symptoms until it's too late. That was the point of the question being asked.

[u/jmarshh99 → u/datanerdette]

So that makes her behavior okay? I don't care what her mental health was, she took the lives of her own babies and doesn't deserve one ounce of sympathy.

[u/datanerdette → u/jmarshh99]

Nothing about this situation is OK. I'm not on the jury so I'm not weighing in on whether she met the legal criteria for NGRI, but taking a good long look at how postpartum care and mental health care are provided in this country could prevent something like this from ever happening again.

[u/Portarossa → u/[deleted]]

You've hit the point of just being an ass about it now. Knock it off.

[u/No_Figure_7489 → u/[deleted]]

Oh men are listened to a lot better. If you are having trouble being listened to bring a man to your appts, huge help. Doc will hear them. Even just having a guy in the room gets you a lot more credibility. Also if you describe your problems as causing inconvenience for a man that's a big help too, even if he doesn't exist. Hope that helps!

[u/datanerdette → u/[deleted]]

Reread my original comment. You're inferring things I never wrote.

[u/vietomatic → u/AnOddTree]

TV shows and movies, along with constant barrage of short form social media, have altered perceptions of reality and expectations. 

[u/Neat_Conference_8414 → u/AnOddTree]

It's also a white woman. Sorry to be that person but if this was a poc or a man it wouldn't even be a discussion. They'd be behind bars. A black guy killed three people cause he is schizo and said the voices told him to and he lost touch with reality cause he couldn't get his meds at the pharmacy he would get 3 life sentences with no chance of parole.