Free Republic

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is breathing on her own and is moving both arms, both very encouraging signs of recovery, physicians at University Medical Center in Tucson said Tuesday. In an interview, Dr. Peter Rhee, the chief of trauma at the medical center, said Giffords was moving both arms, although her left arm was more active than her right, and moving her eyes. Previously, doctors had said that she was moving only her left arm, which is controlled by the right hemisphere of her brain — the side that was not penetrated by the bullet. The fact that she was...

The bullet that passed through Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brain tore through only one hemisphere before exiting, missing the crucial parts of the brain that control most bodily and cognitive functions. The bullet entered through the back of her head, passed through the left hemisphere of her brain and exited just above her left eye, Dr. Michael Lemole, chief of neurosurgery at University Medical Center in Tucson, said Sunday at a news conference. Giffords is being kept in a medically induced coma and is not able to speak because she is intubated, but when she is periodically awakened, she is able...