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?