BOSTON — New mother and father in Massachusetts ought to obtain higher help and postpartum care, Gov. Maura Healey stated Tuesday, following the high-profile homicide trial of Lindsay Clancy, who, her attorneys argued, was affected by unresolved postpartum psychosis when she killed her three youngsters in 2023.
Healey proposed offering free residence visits by nurses to all mother and father with newborns in addition to up to date laws governing psychological well being screening of latest moms.
“To each mother who has struggled along with her psychological well being earlier than, throughout or after being pregnant, I would like you to know we see you — I see you,” Healey stated throughout a go to to Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Middle.
“We have to speak extra brazenly about this,” stated Healey, who signed a maternal well being legislation in 2024 that expanded entry to doulas, midwives and start facilities, and required insurers to cowl postpartum despair screenings.
Each side agreed that Clancy killed her three youngsters, then tried to take her personal life by leaping from a second-floor window.
The Massachusetts mom is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Her attorneys argued she couldn’t be held criminally accountable due to postpartum psychosis, whereas prosecutors stated she ought to be discovered responsible as a result of proof indicated she knew what she was doing was unsuitable.
A mistrial was declared when jurors couldn’t attain a unanimous verdict.
Healey, a Democrat, stated she plans to ask state lawmakers to approve $2 million for a program geared toward providing residence visits to all households welcoming the roughly 68,000 newborns in Massachusetts annually.
No households can be required to take part, however those that do can have a nurse go to and reply questions on feeding, sleep, and caring for a brand new child.
The nurse would additionally monitor moms’ postpartum well being, in addition to display screen for despair and different psychological well being considerations.
This might be the primary state funding in a federally funded program that at the moment gives nurse visits to about 3,000 households annually, Healey stated.
Healey additionally proposed a $250,000 funding within the Massachusetts Youngster Psychiatry Entry Program for Mothers and directed the Massachusetts Division of Public Well being to replace state laws on perinatal psychological well being screenings to determine considerations throughout and after being pregnant.
Giving start may be considered one of life’s most joyous experiences, Healey stated, “but it surely’s additionally probably the most difficult.”
Right here’s the newest on Lindsay Clancy’s homicide trial:
“For brand new moms, it may be exhausting, isolating and overwhelming,” she stated.
Massachusetts has lengthy been a nationwide chief in increasing entry to well being care, with one of many lowest uninsured charges within the U.S.
Its landmark 2006 well being care legislation, which sought near-universal protection, grew to become a mannequin for key elements of the federal Reasonably priced Care Act.
But maternal care gaps stay.
Psychological sickness, together with substance use dysfunction, was the main underlying reason behind demise for pregnant girls and new moms in Massachusetts from 2019 by means of 2024, accounting for 38%, in accordance with the state’s maternal mortality overview committee.
The panel additionally concluded that 85% of these deaths had been preventable and greater than half occurred between seven days and one yr after giving start.
When you or somebody you understand is affected by any of the problems raised on this story, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or textual content Disaster Textual content Line at 741741.
If you’re battling suicidal ideas, you may dial the 24/7 Nationwide Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
