THE SYSTEM FAILED FIRST - by Khadijah Mohammed

Should Lindsay Clancy be held criminally responsible for the death of her children? This has been the question a lot of people all over the world have asked themselves, myself inclusive. The issue of the crime has never been in question, she did it, we all know she did, but I don't believe she meant to. Lindsay was a woman who was suffering from bipolar and postpartum depression. According to the Wisner et al study, (JAMA PSYCHIATRY), it shows that about 22.6% of women are suffering from bi polar disorder, a rate strikingly high. But what do you call one person who suffers from both and not taken seriously, that's Lindsay Clancy. Though the world blames her for her crime, rightly, fully so, they should not forget, in the months leading to that day, she sought help across four different treatment settings, was seen by a rotating team of at least half a dozen mental health providers, and was placed on roughly 13 different medications through nearly 30 total prescriptions in just four months yet her condition was never accurately diagnosed until it was too late. She was diagnosed when it no longer mattered. The medical system failed her. She had spoken to her husband, her sister and even medical staff about her depleting mental health, her dark intrusive thoughts, so why weren't the children taken from her? Her support system failed her. Maybe they felt it was just thoughts, she would never hurt those children, her children, after all what kind of mother would strangle her children? But come to think of it, proper care wasn't taken to ensure the safety of the children. Why would the father of the children, her husband leave her with the children knowing fully well that his wife is not in the right mental state? Why didn't her sister call CPS on her and ask for the children to be taken from her? It makes no sense. And to punish a woman who committed a crime when she suffers from a mental disorder is preposterous. There are different situations where people with post partum psychosis are prosecuted for crimes. Such people include Heidi Anfinson for drowning her child, Deana Bolanos who was convicted for stabbing her baby to death and Postpartum Psychosis was treated as a regular mental disorder. Postpartum psychosis is a disorder that isn't given much attention. Postpartum psychosis is a distinct, rarer, and far more dangerous condition (affecting roughly 1–2 women per 1,000 births) that can include hallucinations, delusions, and command voices. This is not depression, but worse. Postpartum psychosis isn't baby blues, it's real and dangerous. Lindsay Clancy's case is a clear example of what happens when postpartum mental illness goes under-discussed and under-diagnosed and why she should not be held fully criminally responsible for a tragedy that a silent, under-informed system failed to prevent. How else would you explain why a former delivery nurse, a mother, a woman who helps others deliver their own children commit this heinous crime? I asked a question at the beginning of my essay and my answer is no, she should not be held criminally responsible. If you are going to hold Lindsay criminally responsible for the death of her children, then you might as well hold her ex-husband responsible as well for negligence. Nobody tells you that they will hurt their child and you leave that child with them. I know people are worried that if she goes scot free, it will allow people commit crimes such as these and plead insanity as a get out of prison free card but this also shows that stricter measures should be taken to constrain the insanity defense. The type of insanity should also be questioned. Postpartum Psychosis is not something that can be cured in a day, but talking about it is the first step forward.

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