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Doctors Upgrade Shot US Lawmaker's Condition to 'Good'

   VOA News  26 January 2011
   A  campaign  poster  for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords hangs above newspaper
   clippings  from  President  Barack  Obama's election night at the Pima
   County  Democratic Party Headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., during Obama's
   second State of the Union address, 25 Jan 2011.

Photo: AP

   A  campaign  poster  for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords hangs above newspaper
   clippings  from  President  Barack  Obama's election night at the Pima
   County  Democratic Party Headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., during Obama's
   second State of the Union address, 25 Jan 2011.

   Doctors caring for U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords have upgraded
   her  condition  from "serious" to "good" more than two weeks after she
   was  shot  in  the  head  during  a  public event in her home state of
   Arizona.
   The  lawmaker's  medical  team is expected to transfer her to a nearby
   rehabilitation   hospital   sometime   Wednesday  morning.   Giffords
   currently is being kept in a Houston, Texas, hospital's intensive care
   unit.
   Last  week,  she  began interacting with people and communicating with
   gestures  and  facial expressions.  Doctors also said she had started
   moving  her  mouth  in  what  looks  like attempts at speech, though a
   breathing tube prevents her from using her voice.
   Doctors  caution  that  Giffords'  physical therapy and rehabilitation
   will  likely  take  months,  but  they  add  her  gunshot  injury left
   "minimal" damage to her brain.
   The  suspect  in  the January 8 shooting, Jared Loughner, 22, has been
   indicted  for  attempting  to  assassinate  Giffords and attempting to
   murder two of her aides.
   He  is  also expected to be charged with murder for the six people who
   died in the attack.
   Loughner has pled not guilty.

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