New twist in the Lindsay Clancy case: The hospital refuses to take responsibility for her treatment

The Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island is pushing back against Lindsay Clancy’s medical malpractice lawsuit, raising 26 affirmative defenses in a new court filing as the hospital disputes responsibility for the damages she alleges, setting up another battle over her psychiatric treatment.

The October 2 response addresses Clancy’s second amended complaint, invoking comparative negligence, informed consent, third-party responsibility and intervening causes. 

The filing outlines the hospital’s legal defenses but does not establish that Clancy was negligent or that her conduct caused her children’s deaths and among its arguments, the hospital asserts that she was informed about treatment risks, possible consequences and available alternatives.

Its response comes as she pursues claims against medical professionals over the psychiatric care she received before the January 2023 tragedy but Clancy’s civil attorney, Andrew Meyer Jr. cautioned against reading the filing as a meaningful determination of the case’s merits.

"It's more form than it is substance, and it's of course our burden to prove the case," Meyer told RadarOnline.com. "The defense begins their case by denying everything and saying prove it. This is just the first step, and it's just classic, and I wouldn't read anything into it.”

Meyer said the parties have yet to establish whether the alleged treatment failures occurred, emphasizing that evidence will be examined as the litigation progresses. 

The tragedy of the Clancy children and questions over psychiatric care

On January 24, 2023, Clancy killed her children, five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan, at the family’s home in Massachusetts before she then cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window in a suicide attempt.

Sustaining spinal injuries that left her paralyzed from the waist down, Clancy’s defense has argued that postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder impaired her criminal responsibility.

Prosecutors, however, contended that she understood her actions and pointed to her behavior before the killings as evidence of planning whilst Clancy has said she heard a commanding voice that she felt unable to resist.

Her criminal trial began on July 20, 2026, but ended in a mistrial on September 4 after nearly seven weeks of proceedings as the jury reported that it was deadlocked, and the next hearing is scheduled for November 2.

In the months before the killings, Clancy sought treatment for symptoms including insomnia, intrusive thoughts and suicidal ideation and the criminal case examined her mental health and whether clinicians had recognized signs of psychosis.