A victim of John F. Shick's fatal rampage inside an Oakland psychiatric hospital is suing the dead shooter's estate.

Kathryn Leight, 65, of Shaler, was a receptionist in Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic when the troubled former grad student walked in and opened fire March 8. She was shot in the chest.

Her five-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Allegheny County court appears to be the first from a victim of Shick, who shot six people before University of Pittsburgh police killed him. Michael Schaab, 25, a group therapist at the clinic, died.

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Shick, 30, of Oakland, who had schizophrenia, planned the attack about a month in advance and was angry over what he considered misdiagnoses from several doctors, investigators said.

The lawsuit claims that Shick "failed and/or refused to follow medical advice, including failing and/or refusing to attend appointments with his physicians and/or failing and/or refusing to take medication prescribed to treat his schizophrenia."

Leight's attorney, Mark Homyak, said her vital organs were not permanently damaged but that she suffered muscle and nerve damage and a collapsed lung.

"She can not return to work. She has post-traumatic stress disorder as well as ongoing significant pain from her injuries," Homyak said.

Meanwhile, the parents of John Shick have posted a blog detailing how they learned their son died in the shooting rampage.

On "The Log of Moira," Larry and Susan Shick characterized their relationship with John Shick, 30, as "difficult" and said he suffered from schizophrenia since 2005. The blog chronicles the couple's "post-retirement wanderings" on a sailboat.

They did not give their thoughts about the March 8 shooting in Oakland, when John Shick walked into the clinic and shot six people - one fatally - before University of Pittsburgh police killed him.

"Our relationship with John over the last years was difficult at best, as he became increasingly surly, withdrawn, and verbally abusive, though never physically threatening," the blog said.

Under the title the "Death of John Shick," Larry and Susan Shick wrote that they were at Red Shanks anchorage near George Town in the Bahamas when they learned from the crew of another boat that the U.S. Coast Guard was looking for them.

When they were told to call Pittsburgh, they thought John had gotten into minor legal trouble, the post said.

An investigator with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office told Larry his son was killed by police in an armed rampage, and Larry Shick drew a finger across his throat to signal to his wife.

"The shock was all the greater because John had never shown to us any inclination to violence against himself or others," the post said.

The Shicks wrote that the Pittsburgh police "lost interest" in the couple after they shared what they knew of their son's medical and psychiatric history.

Because the body could be kept in refrigeration at the Medical Examiner's office and investigators were searching John Shick's Oakland apartment, the couple wrote that they decided to continue their trip, according to the blog.

Susan Shick arrived in Pittsburgh in mid-April to clean her son's apartment and met with an attorney for the shooting victims, the blog posting states. Larry Shick stayed in Port Canaveral to "work on never ending boat maintenance" the blog said.

"We hoped and expected that John would grow up happy, healthy, smart, and successful," they wrote. "We had become attached to that expectation, forgot that life is uncertain, and when things did not work out as we hoped and expected, our mental habits piled extra suffering on top of the natural pain of seeing a man not live up to his potential."

The couple said they think their son chose an elaborate way of committing suicide.

John Shick was cremated, and his ashes were shipped to Port Canaveral. His parents conducted a memorial service on May 5 off of Cumberland Island, Ga.

"We scattered John's ashes in Cumberland Sound," they wrote. "May he find in death the peace he did not find in life."

Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE contributed to this report.