PA hospital could be liable in fatal shooting

The mentally ill gunman who killed a nurse and wounded several others at a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center psychiatric hospital had previously threatened staff at an affiliated hospital with a baseball bat, according to a prosecutor who is trying to determine whether UPMC could be held criminally liable. Medical records and other information show 30-year-old John Shick, held a grudge, believing he had misdiagnosed illnesses ranging from a bad ankle to pancreatitis to erectile dysfunction. Shick twice went to UPMC Shadyside hospital in February with the bat and threatened the staff, and yet Pittsburgh police were not called, said Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr.