CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA We told you earlier about journalist Bob Woodruff and his photographer being seriously injured in an Iraqi bomb blast. Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has more on their injuries.
Both men are now in Germany and in serious but stable condition. Anchor Bob Woodruff is said to be much more seriously injured with broken bones and some brain trauma.
44-year-old Bob Woodruff is in a medically induced coma, according to his brother.
In the bomb blast his head was injured, that commonly causes the brain to swell and a standard treatment is to remove a piece of the skull.
“If you remove the skull the principle is it allows the brain to expand in that space rather than becoming compressed and cause further damage,” said Dr. Doug Smith.
Dr. Smith is a brain injury specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of medicine.
“Think of your brain like a jello mold and if your brain head is rapidly moving during an injury it could shift so fast that different parts of it are torn or damaged,” explains Dr. Smith.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting
from mediabistro.com--
Woodruff & Vogt: "Long Road Ahead"
ABCNews.com's headline at this hour is "Long Road Ahead," and the title unfortunately captured the mood all too accurately. Today it became increasingly apparent that World News Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff will not return to the network's flagship news broadcast anytime soon.
"Bob responded to stimuli in his hands and feet and briefly opened his eyes," ABC News correspondent Jim Sciutto reported from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on WNT. "I was able to meet and speak with Doug. He [Doug] was awake and alert and joking and I can tell you that gave us a chance to smile today."
Notice what Sciutto didn't say: Woodruff wasn't awake or alert. He wasn't joking. He didn't give them a chance to smile.