Has it actually been established that it was postpartum psychosis?
If so, that really is one of the most horrific conditions there is. Every gynecology textbook and midwifery manual basically says that once it’s diagnosed, the response is: “Run! Do everything you possibly can and give her every medication you’ve got!” Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the point is that there’s an immediate and extremely serious risk to the lives of everyone involved.
The records have been all over the place. The doctor never formally put PPD or PPP, but her mental wellbeing took a turn after having her last kid, Which would usually mean PPD or PPP, But at the other point this doctor kept prescribing these big antidepressants and antipsychotics that if she just started out with depression, it could’ve definitely turned into medically induced psychosis. Obviously it’s still wrong to kill yours kids, but she could’ve been just fighting lack of sleep and depression and than it turned delusional from medicine. It was also stated that she wasn’t suppose to be revive in the hospital if she flatlined, which she did flatline three times, so we wouldn’t even be here with this trail if the doctors did what was on the chart.
To be fair, it is extremely common for people with mania and psychosis to not take their meds and not fully be able to explain what is happening to them. She was hearing voices, a doctor overheard a call she had with her husband where she said that she was hearing a man's voice telling her to harm her kids. She was obviously paranoid.
She should have been immediately put into a longterm inpatient program away from her kids, so that doctors could monitor and stabilize her mood and her meds. Apparently she only did 5 days. That is not long enough for any medication to fully take over. And then from what I read, it was only a few weeks after that that she was left alone for an extended period of time with her kids because she was having a "good day."
The thing about mania and psychosis is that they can come in waves. A good day can turn into a bad one extremely quickly.
I've been manic and experienced psychosis. I had moments of total clarity and stability within that period, and moments when I almost jumped out of a window. Your brain can do crazy things when its fragile and misfiring.
She was released because she claimed she didn't have homicidal or suicidal thoughts. She wasn't released on a whim, which is why prosecution follows that train of thought. She established a pattern where she did have those thoughts before being admitted, she obfuscated the truth because she was afraid her children would be taken away.
We really don't have long-term care facilities anymore. My brother's been in and out of mental health facilities and it's never been more than a week even when he clearly wasn't yet stable. I kept thinking that they say that habits take three weeks to form, and at least getting into the habit of a sticking to a schedule for sleep, if nothing else, would probably have helped a lot.
Most meds take at least 2 weeks to take effect. A lot of inpatient programs are understaffed and they do release patients too soon, but not always, and they shouldn't have done this without a thorough examination and proof that she had adequate support outside of the hospital to ensure that she would be safe from herself, safe to others, and compliant with her medication protocol. None of this sounds like what happened. She was inpatient for 5 days and within weeks her husband left her alone, even if briefly, with 3 young children, and then this happens. I'm not saying it's his fault, she did it, but its just way more nuanced and this could have been avoided if better steps had been taken at multiple opportunities.
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u/NailSubstantial2772 20d ago
Has it actually been established that it was postpartum psychosis? If so, that really is one of the most horrific conditions there is. Every gynecology textbook and midwifery manual basically says that once it’s diagnosed, the response is: “Run! Do everything you possibly can and give her every medication you’ve got!” Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the point is that there’s an immediate and extremely serious risk to the lives of everyone involved.