Lindsay Clancy’s reported body temperature was just 82.1 degrees Fahrenheit when she was found, a figure that has prompted questions about how such a dangerously low temperature could have been possible.

Parade exclusively interviewed James J. Chao, M.D., FACS, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of VedaNu Wellness. Dr. Chao is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with more than 25 years of experience and previously served as a former clinical professor of surgery at UC San Diego. Chao, who has extensive experience teaching surgical anatomy and treating reconstructive trauma, explained what could happen to the body under those circumstances—and why Clancy’s reported temperature is medically possible.

Lindsay Clancy Was in ‘Severe Hypothermia Territory’
According to witness testimony during Clancy’s trial, the mother of three used a knife to cut her wrists and her throat before jumping out the second story window of her home in Duxbury, Mᴀssachusetts.

Her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, was out running errands and found Lindsay in the backyard. He called 911 and Lindsay along with her three children, who had been strangled in the basement of the home, were transported to nearby hospitals.

Lindsay’s body temperature had dropped dramatically, prompting questions about how her body could have reached such a low temperature while she was outside. Dr. Chao explains.

“At 82.1 degrees F (roughly 27.8 Celsius), you are solidly in severe hypothermia territory. Get used to that fact. And believe it or not, no arcane measures are needed to reach that temperature,” Chao says. “She was reportedly lying injured on the frozen ground on a January night in Mᴀssachusetts. A motionless trauma patient can lose 3-5 degrees F of core temperature per hour in that environment. Blood loss and shock decrease heat generation, so one of the numerous online discussions proclaiming such a temperature could not be reached in many hours outdoors fails basic physiology.”

“Heat loss is only part of the problem,” Chao continues. “Transection of the spinal cord near T5 and T6 severs the brain’s connection to blood vessels and muscles below the chest. This cuts off the body’s two primary heat-generating defenses below the level of injury: constriction of blood vessels and shivering. Trauma doctors refer to the resulting condition as poikilothermia, the tendency of the body to match the temperature of whatever surface it’s sitting on.”

“Below 28 Celsius, the heart gets cranky,” Chao continues. “No surprise there; cardiac arrest was reported soon after her transfer. Rewarming is accomplished with warm IV fluids and forced-air blankets, and once arrest occurs, with extracorporeal rewarming on ECMO.”

Would Lindsay Clancy’s Body Temperature Drop in Just an Hour’s Time?
Parade asked Dr. Chao about the alleged timeline as many people have been wondering if the human body could drop 12 to 14 degrees in the amount of time that Lindsay was outside.

“A healthy adult loses perhaps 1-2 degrees F per hour if lying on the ground because intact nerves constrict blood vessels and move warm blood away from the surface to protect the core,” Dr. Chao explains. “Loss of spinal cord function nullifies that protective mechanism instantly below the level of injury.”

Chao went on to say that the “cooling period” extended from Lindsay’s time in the backyard during a Mᴀssachusetts winter, to her being loaded into an ambulance and then the drive to the hospital where she was treated.

“Regardless, it stretched for significantly more than an hour, and it’s entirely possible that her core temperature continued to drop through the early stages of her rewarming, a known hang-up dubbed the ‘afterdrop,'” Chao says.

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