Immediately, Joan informed her supervisor that she had a health crisis. She would miss many days of work during the next three months due to medical and dental appointments.
Early on, her supervisor developed an attitude suggesting that he thought she was trying to pull one over on him. Regularly, he would remind her with an edge in his voice, "You know you're running out of sick leave." Often, he would ask her sarcastically "Are you any worse?" Joan was feeling, "He can have his attitude, he's not my doctor!"
He was also uncooperative when she needed him as her supervisor to address certain issues. She would have to threaten him by saying, "Well, I'll just have to call the captain in Boston myself." One day, she asked to see the photos of her accident. He dropped his voice to a deep and threatening tone and said, "I have them!" Again, she had to threaten to go to the Captain before he acquiesced.
They then went downstairs and he found her file. Sifting through the photos, she found one and exclaimed, "This one...this shows what happened to me!" This photo was taken from the back seat, drivers side on the inside of the cruiser. It was a close-up showing the steering wheel and the windshield having a circular head sized break with cracks radiating out like spider legs. She knew this was a photo of great evidentiary value. She would never see this photo again...NEVER ...no matter how many times she and her attorneys asked for it.
Next, Joan asked for an appointment with the State Police Surgeon to request Injury leave. Injury leave provides a paycheck during the healing process and is granted to any officer who is injured on the job through no fault of their own. The State Police Surgeon didn't just have an attitude, he was on the attack. She handed him the medical reports from her various doctors.
He threw them on the floor and said, "You and your doctors are trying to insult my intelligence. What you have is a virus of the trigeminal nerves. You will never be able to prove this was related to your accident." Joan was frustrated at this point because he had previously told her if she brought in her medical reports for documentation in her employee file, he would burn them. Now, he was using the absence of such documentation against her.
Attitude was everywhere and with anyone she needed to speak with during this period. Of course, O'D joined in on the attacks as well. He had a threat sent to Joan's sister, Louise, at her new place of employment. Her boss walked up to her and said, "My best friend Jack (O'D) says to tell your sister to get her ass back to work!" Louise was terrified as her boss also started relaying information about her that could have only been obtained from personal surveillance. (See Chapter 15)
On January 7, 1987, while at a doctor's appointment, the osteopath said to her, "You are getting worse!" With Joan's sick leave gone and her injury leave denied, she was now forced to take the only option left. She applied for Medical Leave of Absence Without Pay.
That moment was Joan's BREAKING POINT!!!
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