I have read the whole thread and one thing I haven't seen mentioned so far the two seperate civil lawsuits being filed by Lindsay Clancy and her ex husband, Patrick.
Lindsay Clancy: Personal Injury.
Failure to diagnose bi polar disorder with postpartum onset. Prescription of inappropriate medication and, "Polyphamacy" which worsened her condition.
Defendants: Psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Tufts, Aster Mental Health, Nurse Practitioner Rebecca Jolotta, with expansions to other institutions including McClean Hospital and Women and Infants Day Program.
Damages Sought: Financial Recovery to cover lifetime medical expenses and specialist care resulting from permanent paralysis and severe physical injuries sustained when she attempted to end her own life.
Patrick Clancy: As an individual and also as the representative of the estates of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy. Wrongful Death.
Defendents: Much the same as above.
Damages Sought: Financial Accountabilty for the deaths of his three children, under Massachusets law, 100% of this money will go to him.
What does this mean in relation to this thread?
My take on it all is that this case is being used and receiving such huge media coverage because at least originally it was thought that this would be, "Big Pharma/American Health Care System" on trial.
I think the prevailing wind was that it would be taken more or less on face value that Lindsay did it due to postpartum psychosis caused by poor care/cocktail of ever more unsuitable drugs and the enemy would be perceived as those listed in the civil suits.
It hasn't played that way. In the meantime, the witnesses might have always had one part of their brain focused on how it implicated them in the civil cases and not been completely forthcoming.
I do think that will be some kind of landmark case. One which is quoted as having a name, like Clancy v Massachusets or similar and potentially will be a law changer, or at the very least, a catalyst for social attitudes to change.
Maybe about post partum psychosis and treatment.
Maybe about the US Health Care System
Maybe both.
Or it could all fizzle out in that she was guilty on retrail and the civil suits will be chucked out. Which is really how I think it will conclude. Until Round Three ...
For what it's worth, I think, having followed about 80% of the case and having changed my mind seceral times over, my take on it all is that:
Everybody is to blame. It's an almost Shakespearean or Greek Tragedy.
"A great man, brought down by a fatal flaw, best described as pride or hubris."
Lindsey and Patrick had a life that ran like a perfect railway schedule. No blocks on the tracks, everything went like clockwork. When Patrick started to spend more time away and Lindsay became overwhelmed, although not nescessarily in that order) they expected their money, their family, their medical insurance, the authorities, the doctors, the nurses, the friends, the network - to understand and help.
Then they found out that everybody is equal and wretched in the face of mental illness, no body understands or wants to know, or gives the wrong advice or help because they don't understand but pretend to do.
It's not going to go away. Things are not going back to before. I think she was both mentally very ill but also very, very angry.
If I was a juror, however, on balance, I would vote that she was, at the time of the actions, in sufficient mental capacity to understand what she was doing was wrong and that she would be judged for it.
However, she was confident that the judgement she would get FINALLY was sympathy. Even if she was dead. "Look at what you made me do!"
But, that, of course. Is delusional in a common parlance sense of the word but I don't think it gets under the line legally.
So, if I was a juror, I'd have to say guilty.
The civil cases are deeply flawed. The American Health Care System has great faults but if they wanted a test case to try it against, they picked the wrong one.
I also do not think that there is enough compelling evidence of post partum psychosis. Which is real but again, as a test case, they picked the wrong one.
In summary, the Clancy case was meant to advance the causes of Mental Health Care reform and treatment of postpartum psychosis but has caused so much confusion and heated argument as to set both causes back no end.
I would bet that we'll still be hearing of Lindsay Clancy in a decade. Guilty next time, then...
...she'll eventually be acquitted. In about 2036, by which time attitudes to postpartum psychosis, mental illness, the penal system and every damned thing else will have changed so much, I won't even recognise what I've written in this post as my own thoughts.