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The ODDESSI trial of Open Dialogue offers a vision of how Lindsay Clancy could have been better treated

OD works by offering immediate help, a continuous care team, and ongoing, patient-centered communication

“So you’re like a robot,” Lindsay Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington told Jennifer Tufts, the psychiatrist who treated Clancy. He was referring to Tufts’ repeated declarations of her own limited options—limited options on her computer files, on what went into her patient notes, and ultimately, based on her testimony, the care she gave.

As most people know by now, Clancy, in a state of postpartum distress, killed her three children with exercise bands. Then she attempted suicide. Her defense was postpartum psychosis: that she didn’t understand what she was doing that day in January 2023.

Clancy’s trial, which the Guardian called “America’s saddest murder trial,” ended in September 2026 with a hung jury.

Clancy had been prescribed 13 medications by half a dozen practitioners in a few months, checked herself into multiple hospitals, called suicide hotlines, all the while getting minimal to no help. Perhaps worse than the sheer number of medications, Clancy had frequent medication changes throughout, with drugs that can cause agitation and have withdrawal symptoms.

In court, Lindsay Clancy appeared like a figure in Greek tragedy—stiffly upright in the wheelchair she’s now confined to, dark hair streaming down her back. And a face that seemed both uncomfortably present and far, far away. Reddington, 75, with short white hair and a face that could have gone a few rounds in a boxing ring, was often filmed clutching Clancy's hand as she collapsed forward, weeping.

Lead prosecutor........

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