Amy Shaw, a dedicated police officer, is a broken woman after being exposed to the horrors of the job.
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The cousin of Australia’s first ever female police officer was ‘’hurt on duty’’ and medically discharged with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder two years ago.
As her battle for compensation drags on, she has resorted to making a pubic plea for MetLife to finalise her insurance claim - and more than 3500 people have shown support through the Change.Org petition.
‘’I broke after being exposed to murders, suicides, brawls, sieges, domestic violence and fatal accidents,’’ the mother of two said.
‘’It's wrong. There have been about 300 of us who dedicated our lives to protect the community but now suffer PTSD and other work related injuries.’’
Many of those are former Illawarra officers who are calling for help and government intervention.
‘’Instead of help, we're forced to battle the police insurer MetLife for any support, despite us paying insurance premiums for years,’’ Mrs Shaw said.
‘’There have been cases where MetLife have caught people smiling, then have used the pictures to try and deny they have any post-traumatic stress disorder at all.
‘’I've been diagnosed with PTSD, depression, anxiety and OCD. I experience physical symptoms like elevated heart rate, difficulty breathing, flashbacks, paranoia and insomnia sometimes lasting days.
‘’All while I battle daily to get out of bed due to the severe depression and struggle with the crippling obsessive compulsive disorder. I’ve been close to suicide.’’
Mrs Shaw said that with the help of family, friends and counselling she is trying to move on but needs MetLife to approve her claim.
‘’The Mercury has been reporting on MetLife's cruel tactics already, but my case and that of others are still being dragged out,’’ she said.
‘’I don’t know how much longer I can take it. ‘’My life’s been destroyed and my family is falling apart.’’
Her husband Peter called for compassion from MetLife in this 100th anniversary year of woman in policing.
He’s watched his wife, inspired by her close relative Lillian Armfield, go from a confident police officer to a shell of her former self.
