Lindsay Clancy is costing Massachusetts taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — and millions in the long run — as she faces ongoing medical treatment after her mistrial.
Clancy’s care likely costs at least $620,500 per year while she remains at Tewksbury Hospital, where she’s been receiving treatment for most of the three and a half years since killing her children and attempting to take her life in Jan. 2023.
The state-run hospital north of Boston charges the government at least $1,700 a day for every resident psychiatric patient, which Clancy — facing a bi-polar diagnosis and other psychological needs like PTSD — would likely qualify as.
But Clancy — who was left paralyzed and wheelchair-bound by her post-murder suicide attempt — could also qualify as a “chronic patient,” which the hospital bills at $1,850 per day and at least $675,250 per year, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s latest figures.
And Clancy’s daily costs could be even higher — she has been under stringent suicide watch since the murders, which requires her to have an attendant with her 24-hours a day.
It remains unclear exactly what her care would cost, however. The Department of Public Health did not respond to request for comment.
Clancy, 36, claimed she was suffering from severe post-partum depression after the birth of her third child in the months leading up to Jan. 24, 2023, which she said culminated in hallucinations of a frightening voice urging her to carry out the murders.
The problem was exacerbated by a cocktail of medications her various healthcare providers had prescribed, which she claimed led directly to her strangling the kids — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month Callan — before slashing her throat and jumping out a bedroom window.
Whether she was really legally insane was the crux of her six-week trial — prosecutors argued that decisions she made, including laying plans for the murders and asking her husband to run an errand before committing them, indicated she knew what she was doing and was criminally liable for the deaths.
Most jurors agreed with the prosecutors and wanted to find her not guilty by reason of insanity, but one hold-out refused to agree and brought about a mistrial on Sept. 4 after a grueling week of deliberations.
That means Clancy will head to court again sometime in the future — and if she succeeds at being found not guilty by reason of insanity would likely spend years in a state-run hospital similar to Tewksbury.
Clancy would be eligible for release if doctors deem her not a danger to herself or the public, but Judge William Sullivan told jurors before deliberations she could “remain committed for the duration of her life.”
Massachusetts criminal defense attorney Peter Elikann agreed with Sullivan’s assessment, telling The Post “she may never see the light of day, or she could possibly be released decades from now.”
One hospital she could wind up spending that time in is Bridgewater State Hospital, a facility south of Boston, which spends about $367,007 per patient each year — meaning her care could cost taxpayers tens of millions over the years.
And if she were found guilty the costs of her care would also be high, though not as severely.
Massachusetts prisons’ annual per-patient costs typically run around $100,000 and $250,000 per year.
Read the full article here
