DEDHAM, Mass. (Court TV) — Months ahead of her scheduled murder trial, Lindsay Clancy has filed a lawsuit against multiple mental health providers, accusing them of malpractice that directly led to her children’s murders.
Lindsay Clancy appeared virtually at a pretrial hearing on Jan. 7, 2026. (Court TV)
Lindsay, 35, is charged with the murders of her three young children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — who were strangled to death before she jumped out of a second-story window at her home. While Lindsay hasn’t denied her role in the crime, her attorneys have said they plan to argue she was legally insane at the time.
With her murder trial scheduled to begin in July, Lindsay has now filed a civil lawsuit against two medical providers, Dr. Jennifer Tufts and nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta, as well as the medical centers that employ them and two other hospitals.
Lindsay’s lawsuit alleges a list of failures by mental health professionals to correctly respond to her symptoms, which began immediately after she gave birth to her third child. Twelve weeks after giving birth, Lindsay says symptoms that began as mania turned to anxiety and depression; she was sleeping only three hours a night, had no motivation and was unable to exercise.
The lawsuit echoes a timeline laid out in a similar lawsuit filed by Lindsay’s husband, Patrick, against the same defendants. Both lawsuits allege that in October 2022, Lindsay first sought treatment from Dr. Jennifer Tufts, who found she exhibited signs of severe depression and prescribed Zoloft, an antidepressant. Shortly after taking the drug, Lindsay experienced a severe adverse reaction; Tufts responded by stopping the drug, and instead prescribing Ativan and Benadryl for sleep.
What followed was months of visiting multiple providers and hospitals and being prescribed a cocktail of drugs that included Klonopin, Ambien, Remeron and finally, Seroquel, an antipsychotic and mood stabilizer. According to Lindsay’s lawsuit, it was when she started taking Seroquel that Lindsay’s mental health took a “dramatic turn for the worse.”
MORE | Lindsay Clancy’s husband files lawsuit blaming doctors for children’s murders
Lindsay reported to her doctors, her husband, Patrick, and her parents that she was experiencing suicidal ideation and what she described as “intrusive thoughts,” but the lawsuit says were actually auditory hallucinations.
While prosecutors have accused Lindsay of sending Patrick out on an errand specifically so she would have time to kill her children, Lindsay’s lawsuit says that she had actually searched a map of how long the errand would take because she was scared to be alone. As soon as he left the house, Lindsay says she heard a “loud, demanding, repetitious voice: ‘This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. YOU HAVE TO KILL THE KIDS SO YOU CAN KILL YOURSELF.”
According to the lawsuit, Lindsay says she “lost all control. My body started acting without any control on my part. I was just following commands, ‘all action.’ This voice demanded action.” As she strangled her children, Lindsay says she uttered, “Go to God, baby.”
Dr. Margaret Spinelli, who conducted a forensic psychiatric evaluation of Lindsay over several hours, diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. “An antidepressant medication can create manic or hypomanic symptoms and mood instability in one who has a bipolar illness. This is a well-known response for a person with underlying bipolar disorder,” Spinelli says in the lawsuit.
Lindsay’s lawsuit accuses the defendants of malpractice, while Patrick’s accuses them of wrongful death.
Lindsay’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin on July 20.
