Postpartum mom Lindsay Clancy was released from hospital three weeks before she strangled kids

The midwife mother who strangled her three children in an apparent drug-induced fog while suffering postpartum depression checked herself into a psychiatric hospital seeking help three weeks before she killed the kids, but was released with a prescription for antidepressants. 

Lindsay Clancy, 32, is facing life in prison if convicted of first degree murder for the deaths of her children Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months on January 24. 

On January 1, Lindsay - who was herself a labor nurse herself at Massachusetts General Hospital - checked herself into the McLean psychiatric hospital in Belmont.

She spent five days there, according to her attorney Kevin Reddington, during which she complained about becoming addicted to benzodiazepines. 

Lindsay Clancy, 32, is facing life in prison if convicted of first degree murder for the deaths of her children Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months on January 24. She is shown with daughter Cora

On January 1, Lindsay presented herself to doctors at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. She spent five days at the hospital, according to her attorney, then was sent home with a prescription for antidepressants

Doctors at the hospital decided to take her off Seroquel - a drug used to treat schizophrenia and depression. 

She was then given Trazodone, another anti-depressant, and Ativan, a branded version of Lorazepam, according to her attorney. 

The circumstances surrounding Lindsay's discharge from the hospital remain unclear, and it is also unclear whether she ever told doctors that she felt homicidal. 

In the weeks before the killings, she told her husband that she felt suicidal. 

Her attorney says that she went back to the doctor after leaving McLean, but he has not specified what drugs she was given then. 

Twenty days later, she strangled her three children then tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists and jumping from a top floor bedroom of the family home. 

A spokesman for the hospital declined to give details on her care or discharge, citing privacy laws. 

'Due to federal privacy laws and our ethical standards, we are unable to comment on specific patient cases. 

'The complexities of mental health are different for each individual and similarly, treatment strategies vary depending on each person’s unique needs. 

'Whether it be proven and effective medications, psychotherapy, peer support, complementary and alternative medicine, or a combination of multiple approaches, it is important that any care plan be evidence-based and derived from patient-centered discussions and shared decision making,' he said. 

Prosecutors told a court yesterday that Lindsay later told her husband she heard a 'man's voice' telling her to kill the kids and herself, and that it was her 'only chance'. 

Her attorney says she had become shell of herself in the months since her third child's birth, and that she'd been overprescribed an astonishing combination of 13 different drugs to help her cope. 

Lindsay Clancy was arraigned from her hospital bed yesterday. She is paralyzed after trying to kill herself by jumping from a top floor window of her home 

Lindsay Clancy with her husband Patrick and their oldest children, Cora, five, and Dawson, three. She 

After strangling the kids, Lindsay tried to cut her own wrists. She then jumped from a window at the family home. Baby Callan, eight months, died in the hospital. Cora and Dawson died at home

The Clancy home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, where the children were killed in the basement

It remains unclear how many drugs she was told to take at once, or who was overseeing her care. 

Her attorney says her case boils down to a tragic failure by 'society' to help new mothers suffering with postpartum depression.  

'Our society fails miserably in treating women with post partum depression or post partum psychosis.

'It's "medicate, medicate, medicate".

'Throw the pills at you and see how it works,' he said. 

On January 24, Lindsay was having 'one of her best days', according to her husband, Patrick, who says he has forgiven her. 

She took Cora to the pediatrician in the morning, then returned home to play with Cora and Dawson in the snow outside. 

Her husband Patrick was working from home in the basement. 

At 4.03pm, she searched 'kids Miralax' - a type of stool softener - on her phone. At 4.13pm, she searched 'takeout ThreeV'. 

ThreeV is an 11-minute drive from the family home. She then texted her husband Patrick, asking if he wanted takeout, and he agreed. 

Lindsay told Patrick that she wanted a Mediterranean power bowl. He opted for the pork belly risotto bowl. 

At 5.10pm, Lindsay placed the order for the food over the phone. She then also instructed her husband to pick up a stool softener for one of the kids.

He visited a CVS that is two miles from the home, where he called Lindsay at 5.33pm. The call went unanswered. A minute later, she called him back and the call lasted 14 seconds. 

At 5:54 pm, Patrick entered ThreeV, a 3.9mile drive from the CVS. He collected the food then got back in his car. 

He was home by 6.09pm. He told police that he heard 'silence' when he entered the home. 

He went upstairs and saw blood on the floor of one a bedroom where the window was also open. 

Patrick then ran outside and found Lindsay lying in the backyard. She had jumped from the window in an attempt to kill herself after slitting her wrists.

When he asked her where the children were, prosecutors say she told him they were in the basement. 

Patrick waited with her until EMTs arrived. 

He then ran to the basement, where prosecutors say he found the children with exercise bands tied around their necks. 

He was then heard screaming: 'She killed the kids!'

Prosecutors allege it was a premeditated crime, and that she deliberately sent Patrick out to 'create' the opportunity to kill the kids.

They say she acted with 'extreme cruelty' and was in control of her senses, despite her attorneys' claims that she was not.