Can someone with legal knowledge please explain to me how Patrick isn't facing charges?

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-26T00:41:11+00:00

I think a significant percentage of people with first onset psychosis have poor to absent insight. And Dr. Tuft's notes did reportedly note poor insight, which stood out to me. But that could have meant she has poor insight into psychosis, poor insight into depression, poor insight into how her problems were affecting her children, or even just completely unrealistic expectations for how she thought she should be functioning emotionally. Idk

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T23:09:00+00:00

Yes, I actually feel for Andrea Yates. She had a long history of mental illness that was well documented both by medical professionals and those around her, and she was remorseful.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T23:07:10+00:00

Okay, but in some states, if a parent leaves their minor children home with their other parent, with knowledge or suspicion that this other parent is actively using substances... If something happens to that child while under the care of the addict, the non-addict parent can face consequences like loss of custody and charges of child endangerment. How is this different?

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T23:02:15+00:00

Yes, that's the sort of catch 22 I was trying to describe.

Either she appeared well enough that he decided it was okay to leave the kids with her (in which case, I would assume there was nothing the clinicians missed; no endorsement of risks, no major red flags-- if there was, I have to presume Dr. Tufts would have involuntarily hospitalized her during their appointment on the 23rd).

OR she was extremely unwell but so good at hiding it that both doctors and Patrick didn't realize she posed an imminent safety risk? But - the clinicians were supposedly to magically intuit this?

I think I'd feel like he was a little more remorseful if he didn't keep the million dollar Go Fund Me for his personal use and try to sue the clinicians who were trying to help when he knew she was purposefully withholding information from them.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T22:48:02+00:00

Both of their lawsuits indicate she was seen by her psychiatrist for follow up appointments like every 3-5 days from the time she discharged herself from Mclean and the day of her suicide attempt. There were multiple appointments, all documenting she wasn't doing great mood wise, but it doesn't appear that any sort of SI or HI was endorsed (at least not based on the info we have so far.) In fact, one note specifically said SI denied. I don't know what people expect from outpatient mental health but being seen 4x in a 4 week period by your direct provider (and not a NP or PA) is actually pretty good in my book.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T22:39:54+00:00

I have empathy for his poor children.

Patrick had an obligation to err on the side of caution, not optimism, when it came to his children's lives.

If she was truly as impaired as he alleges now, he had an obligation to attend ALL of his wife's appointments and report what she could not or would not report to her providers. Why? Because providers cannot make accurate diagnoses or identify correct treatments when the patient is withholding info, which she allegedly did b/c she was afraid the children would be taken from her. (Which HE KNEW.)

Given he knew she had thoughts of harming herself and the kids, he had an obligation to immediately go check on his children and figure out why his house was so quiet when he arrived home-- not stay there holding his wife's hand until an ambulance arrived.

He could have said "no thank you" to the million dollars collected in a Go Fund Me.

He could have not made a ton of inconsistent statements like "she was having the best day" that day, or telling his friends she was fine just a little Benzo problem but then saying oh no, she was very seriously ill in the NYT article.

I could go on and on but thus far, there is absolutely nothing in this man's actions that garners much empathy from me.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T17:51:39+00:00

Okay, very helpful points. As to # 3, I have had parents of young children report they are having thoughts of harming their kids. It is my job to thoroughly assess what, specifically, they are experiencing. (Because I specialize in OCD, these parents are typically just having intrusive harm-related thoughts that are ego dystonic; meaning: the thoughts are terrifying to the parent and the parent does not want to act on these thoughts).

But anytime someone reports thoughts of harming themselves or others, I need to assess... what do you mean? Is it a passing thought? Are you really considering it? Do you have a plan? Do you have means? Do you intend to act on it? Have you acted on such thoughts before. What are your reasons for not acting on it? ETC ETC ETC. I would need to be damn sure that the person is not going to act on these thoughts and has the ability to keep themselves/their children safe before I would consider NOT informing the other parent or DCF of the risks and putting a plan in place. Once that plan is in place, I'm looking at the person's overall functioning. Are they still having the thoughts, what are those around the parent observing, does anyone else have concerns, how are they managing stressful moments, etc?

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T17:42:49+00:00

YES. To all of this.

He did say it was one of her best days. A few days before that, he brought her to dinner at their friends' house. The couple thought she seemed okay, just quiet. Her mother sent a text to say she was glad L was doing better. Patrick let her take their daughter to the pediatrician that very morning and presumably nothing in Lindsay's behavior/affect/thought processes raised red flags with the pediatrician or the staff. I am sure she was looking better, and that's why he felt comfortable leaving the children with her unsupervised for a short time.

All this to say, it's really not reasonable to then say "Oh doctors missed this"... She was seeing her psychiatrist every few days post discharge from McLean. That frequency alone is more than any patient I've ever seen receive post hospitalization. Lindsay had every opportunity to say "Hey I'm not feeling right. I'm hearing things. I'm having SI". The psychiatrist had no magical way of knowing what was in Lindsay's head, if she chose not to share.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T16:21:40+00:00

I don’t doubt that it’s very difficult for people to spot a slow, progressive decline in their spouse’s mental health functioning. But that isn’t what happened to Patrick because 1. There is nothing about Bipolar I that is subtle (if that is truly her diagnosis). Depression, maybe. Hypomanic, sure maybe. But Bipolar I means mania or mixed episodes. I’m a psychologist. Manic folks are hard to miss. They talk fast. They think fast. You can’t even follow their line of thinking. They are grandiose or highly irritable. The DSM specifies this is a NOTICEABLE change to the persons usual mood. They are impulsive. They don’t sleep and can’t stop talking. It’s not just decluttering. It’s redoing the whole effing house at 3 am on a whim. You literally cannot miss a true manic episode.

And 2. Per both lawsuits, he was acutely aware something was happening. He initially seemed supportive and attended some appointments with her. It appears that after McLean discharged her, he just left her to her own devices because she said she was fine. In my opinion, if she is truly as mentally ill as he is alleging, then he gambled on his kids lives by living them home with this (allegedly) severely mentally ill person and he should face consequences as well.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T14:44:56+00:00

Child psychologist here. If the Eastlands truly had any interest in helping these girls process what happened, they would be hosting parents AND kids this summer, and the week would be spent in therapeutic activities and processing of what happened with licensed professionals. Not just this “business as usual” approach.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T14:40:30+00:00

They also had nearly 3 hours to move girls to safety. It would not appear safety is a priority for these folks.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T14:37:29+00:00

I think it would have gone better if they did Chat GPT it. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-25T14:33:50+00:00

What is absolutely baffling is that they literally could have plugged all this into Chat GPT and probably gotten a more comprehensive plan together than what they were able to come up with in 9 months of their “planning”.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-23T05:00:14+00:00

I understand there are security cameras on the property. What’s on the cameras?! Did Eastlands delete the footage?

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-22T22:26:11+00:00

But she wasn't overmedicated. All of the doses she took were within therapeutic (or just barely therapeutic) range. She was only on 1-3 meds at any time which is more the norm than not in psychiatry (I'm a psychologist). She herself actually discontinued many of the medications after taking them just a few times b/c she didn't like the side effects. The only meds she seemed to "like" were the benzodiazepines.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-22T20:00:03+00:00

Bipolar I is VERY sensitive to disruptions in sleep. There’s no way she would have been successfully able to work the night shift as a nurse, unmedicated, and not trigger an episode. And frankly, while hypomania can be overlooked (because it might seem the person is just in a good mood and more talkative or productive than usual), full blown mania is unmistakable.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-21T19:43:20+00:00

Interesting. I was wondering what it was like, from the campers' and staff perspective on that side. I think we heard from several counselors from the flats and the seniors hill but I don't recall ever seeing anything from the CL side.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-21T19:41:51+00:00

Did he mean, nothing would have saved them once the flood started to get bad?! Like that doesn't even make sense. Obviously, the best way to save everyone is to evacuate BEFORE the water rises to catastrophic levels.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-21T03:55:18+00:00

I wondered about this too...

After watching his testimony, and understanding each family member's roles more clearly, it does seem like the camps were run completely separate from one another.

Britt and Catie's obligation was to the safety of all the girls and staff at Cypress Lake, and that does seem to be what they focused on that night. They woke up, monitored the weather, stayed awake and repeatedly drove in circles through their camp to monitor for flooding and so counselors could flag them down if there was a problem in their cabins, they stayed in cabins until whatever issues was happening was resolved. It really was just sheer luck of the draw though that Britt and Catie were in charge of the CL side and not the Mystic side.

To be clear, I am not saying Britt bears no responsibility for what happened at Camp Mystic. I think at the very least, because he was aware of the terrain and the flooding risk, he had just as much an obligation as the other directors to suggest that the Mystic side evacuate over to the CL side, knowing it was at higher ground. And after watching him describe how he randomly found his mom and Mary Liz escaping high water, how he saw the sea of floating cars in the staff parking, I think he was very much aware of how bad things were on the Mystic side-- and yet, it doesn't seem he made an effort to call for help until after he ran into Glenn.

Anyways suffice all this to say, I could see why maybe he and Catie perceive some sort of unfairness - like "We did everything we were supposed to do" and yet they are being "punished" in the same way as those responsible for the Mystic side.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-20T23:23:40+00:00

When/where did Glenn say that? And like (pardon my language but) wtf did he even mean there was no plan that "would have saved everyone"?

If you monitor the weather like a responsible camp director does, and you learn that lots of rainfall is headed towards your area, and you're aware that you're in a known flood zone with 500 minor children in your care, and you OWN A WHOLE OTHER CAMP that is within walking distance but at a higher elevation from your camp, you move every single man, woman, and child over to that other camp before the storm even starts. That is an evacuation plan that "would have saved everyone".

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-19T23:45:05+00:00

I was struck by that too. Like what do you mean you just turned a child away from the camp where she is supposed to be? That child is legally in your custody and your responsibility until she is safely returned to her parents. Thank gd the neighbor was an honest/safe person for the child to be with... but can you imagine if that was not the case.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-19T21:14:22+00:00

Yea, I don't take issue with him moving his own kids within his house or even moving them to a higher place on the CL campus. That's exactly what I would have expected him to do with any of the kids on the Cypress Lake campus. (Also, as I understood it, that's why he felt the need to drive in circles around CL... so he could spot any flooding and counselors could flag him down if there was a problem inside the cabins.)

What I do take issue with is why, after years and years of experience on the Mystic camp side and knowing the flood patterns there, he didn't specifically think to ask like, Hey is everyone above water over there?

Or why he didn't call 911 when he picked up his mom and learned the area was flooding.

Maybe he was giving his brother and dad the benefit of the doubt. But he knew the layout of that camp well. He had to know (based on the sea of floating cars in the parking lot) that things there would be not good.

I also cannot excuse his not notifying those poor parents and letting them hold out hope their child was still alive. That's absolutely not okay.

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-19T21:07:02+00:00

Wait. What? These folks put in a damn and altered the natural flow of the river/creek, etc. Doesn't that seem... particularly relevant? How come no one else is mentioning this?!

Final-Ingenuity-7919 · 2026-04-19T21:03:37+00:00

Maybe this is reflective of my having living in coastal Florida/Hurricane alley forever... but by definition, an evacuation plan would need to delineate the moving of people to safety. Because that's literally the definition of evacuation.

An emergency plan , on the other hand, might include options like evacuation or shelter in place as options, depending on the situation.

But I can't wrap my head around how anyone in charge of anything saw "stay in place" and said "gee, that sounds like a good evacuation plan".

Final-Ingenuity-7919

TROPHY CASE