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Shot US Lawmaker Transferred to Rehab Hospital


Astronaut Mark Kelly sits in the passenger seat of the ambulance as it carries his wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, to TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital, in Houston, 26 Jan 2011.
Astronaut Mark Kelly sits in the passenger seat of the ambulance as it carries his wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, to TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital, in Houston, 26 Jan 2011.

U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords has been transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, after doctors upgraded her condition from "serious" to "good" more than two weeks after she was shot in the head during an event in her home state of Arizona.

The congresswoman's medical team moved her to the Houston, Texas rehab facility Wednesday from a nearby hospital's intensive care unit.

Doctors have said she has begun interacting with people and communicating with gestures and facial expressions. They said she also started moving her mouth in what looked like attempts at speaking, though a breathing tube was preventing her from using her voice.

Doctors caution that Giffords' physical therapy and rehabilitation will likely take months, but they say her gunshot wound caused "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 also is expected to be charged with the murders of the six people killed in the attack, which took place as Giffords was meeting with constituents in Tucson.

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