Lindsay Clancy Trial: ER Doctor Grilled, State Trooper Details Hospital Injury Evidence

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

This is live courtroom coverage of the trial of Lindsay Clancy from the Hidden Killers podcast in True Crime Today. Now, back to the courtroom.

SPEAKER_2 (0:11)

May I inquire? Yes, please.

Good morning. Could you please tell the jurors your first and last name?

Kelly McDonough (0:16)

Kelly McDonough.

SPEAKER_2 (0:17)

Can you spell your last name for the record?

Kelly McDonough (0:19)

M-C-D-O-N-O-U-G-H.

SPEAKER_2 (0:22)

And what do you do for a living?

Kelly McDonough (0:23)

I'm an emergency medicine physician.

SPEAKER_2 (0:26)

And how long have you been a physician?

Kelly McDonough (0:31)

11 years.

SPEAKER_2 (0:33)

Can you tell us a little bit about your educational background?

Kelly McDonough (0:37)

I went to medical school at the University of New England in Maine. I did my residency at Kent Hospital in Rhode Island.

I subsequently worked at Kearney Hospital in Dorchester, and I've been at South Shore Hospital since 2021

SPEAKER_2 (0:53)

And what are you primarily in the emergency department at South Shore Hospital?

Kelly McDonough (0:56)

Correct.

SPEAKER_2 (0:57)

Have you been in any other department at South Shore Hospital?

Kelly McDonough (1:00)

No.

SPEAKER_2 (1:03)

Are you licensed to practice in Massachusetts?

Kelly McDonough (1:07)

Yes.

SPEAKER_2 (1:08)

I'm going to draw your attention to January 24th of 2023 Were you working in the emergency department that evening?

Kelly McDonough (1:14)

I was.

SPEAKER_2 (1:15)

At some point, were you advised that a patient was being brought into your emergency department?

Kelly McDonough (1:21)

I was.

SPEAKER_2 (1:22)

And were you aware that patient being Lindsay Clancy had a date of birth of 8-11-90?

Kelly McDonough (1:28)

Yes.

SPEAKER_2 (1:29)

And what kind of information were you given upon learning that the patient was coming here? What were you expecting to receive?

Kelly McDonough (1:39)

I was expecting a Trauma 1 response, a patient who had fallen out of a window from a height and didn't know much more than that.

SPEAKER_2 (1:50)

Okay. So when you say Trauma 1, what does that mean for you?

Kelly McDonough (1:54)

So we have two designations for Trauma responses, a Trauma 1 and a Trauma 2, and there's certain criteria for each. And there's a long list of criteria that are determined by the resource nurse who receives the EMS call.

SPEAKER_2 (2:05)

Okay. And so when we say 1 and 2, which is more serious than the other?

Kelly McDonough (2:09)

Trauma 1

SPEAKER_2 (2:11)

And so what do you do to prepare when a patient is coming in and you know coming in that it's likely a Trauma 1 situation?

Kelly McDonough (2:20)

So we gather in the Trauma Room and make sure that we have all available staff needed to take care of the patient.

SPEAKER_2 (2:26)

And what kind of staff are with you in the room, in the Trauma Room?

Kelly McDonough (2:29)

So for a Trauma 1 response, it would be the emergency medicine physician, it would be anesthesia, the trauma surgeons, sometimes neurosurgery will be there.

SPEAKER_2 (2:39)

And fair to say you also have a whole host of other staff including nurses, emergency room techs, all of those people are also available to assist and if you need it.

Kelly McDonough (2:49)

Correct.

SPEAKER_2 (2:51)

Now, when this individual came in, when Lindsay Clancy came into the emergency department, were you aware from EMS that she had already come in with some neurological deficits?

Kelly McDonough (3:03)

I think that from my best recollection, we knew that she was unresponsive, found down outside of her home.

SPEAKER_2 (3:10)

Were you advised that it appeared she might have a spinal injury?

Kelly McDonough (3:14)

Yes.

SPEAKER_2 (3:15)

And that she may have been moving her arms and her head but not her legs?

Kelly McDonough (3:19)

Correct.

SPEAKER_2 (3:21)

Now, when the team was assessing her in the emergency department, what types of steps do you take to perform that assessment of the patient?

Kelly McDonough (3:30)

So there's a series of steps that we go through to assess a trauma patient that are followed every single time. ABCs, are we breathing circulation, and then we do a secondary survey.

SPEAKER_2 (3:39)

Okay. In this circumstance, was the patient breathing?

Kelly McDonough (3:44)

Yes.

SPEAKER_2 (3:45)

And when she came into the emergency department, was she breathing on her own or intubated?

Kelly McDonough (3:50)

She's breathing on her own.

SPEAKER_2 (3:51)

At some point, did the ER staff have to intubate her? Yes. And why was that?

Kelly McDonough (3:57)

For airway protection. There was a concern that maybe she would have a head injury and she would decompensate later and so to protect her airway, she was intubated.

SPEAKER_2 (4:05)

Now, is that a standard protocol when there's concern for head injury?