WASHINGTON (AP) — House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, grievously wounded in a shooting at a baseball practice nearly a month ago, has been moved out of the intensive care unit of a Washington hospital but remains in serious condition.
The Louisiana congressman and third-ranking House Republican underwent surgery last week at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and is being treated for infection, according to an official familiar with his condition.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss Scalise’s condition.
Scalise and four other people were injured June 14 when a gunman opened fire on a practice in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. U.S. Capitol Police and other officers returned fire and killed the gunman.
The 51-year-old congressman was struck in the hip and the bullet tore into blood vessels, bones and internal organs.
Regardless of one’s political views, this is excellent news. But how is the precious, precious gun? The poor gun is another victim here.
Not only is he out of intensive care but, thanks to the ACA which he worked so tirelessly to repeal, he hasn’t reached his cap on medical costs. Lucky guy.
I can’t really come up with any snark, and wish the Congressman a speedy recovery. (When they go low, I go high!)
Get well, sir. We will try to defeat you politically in the future but we do wish you good health and a complete recovery.
It will be a long recovery for him. What people don’t often know about gun shot wounds is that, with high powered rifles, it’s not the bullet but, rather, the speed of the bullet that does most of the damage.
When a bullet enters the body at a high speed (much greater than the speed of sound) it causes a large shock wave inside the body that will do severe damage to all of the surrounding tissues. That means that the organs near the bullet’s pathway can be severely damaged even though they may look OK on initial inspection. This is why injuries like these can sometimes require multiple surgeries and prolonged hospitalizations.
Pelvic shots can be especially problematic because of how much they bleed. There are a lot of arteries coursing near and around the pelvic bones so, when a bullet goes through one of those bones, it shatters it causing bone fragments to sever the nearby arteries. Sometimes the bleeding is so intense that the source of the bleeding can’t even be found before the patient has lost several (or several dozen) units of blood.
Even after Rep. Scalise is released from the hospital, he’ll probably need months of rehab. Also, he’ll be very lucky if he ever walks again.