The Lindsay Clancy trial brings maternal mental health into the spotlight | CNN

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial centered on the mental health issues the 36-year-old faced after giving birth to her third child. The judge declared a mistrial Friday after the jury couldn’t reach a verdict on whether the former Massachusetts labor and delivery nurse was criminally responsible when she strangled her three children, slashed her wrists and throat and then jumped from a second-story window of her suburban home in 2023. Prosecutors said Clancy had the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions and could follow the law. Clancy’s attorney contended that she was not criminally responsible because she was experiencing postpartum psychosis, a rare mental health condition. Why there was a mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy case After the birth of her youngest child, Clancy had taken several medications for mental health problems, according to her providers, and sought help from a few mental health professionals. Mental health issues are the most common complication of pregnancy and parenting, affecting as many as 1 in 5 women in the United States during pregnancy and the year after birth. They are also the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death in th