Tucson Shooting Hospital Update: Doctor Optimistic On Gabrielle Giffords Recovery (VIDEO)

Doctor 'Optimistic' Arizona Congresswoman Will Recover

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is alive and doctors are optimistic about her recovery, the hospital said in an update this afternoon.

University Medical Center's Dr. Peter Rhee says that the facility received 10 patients in all. One died (a 9-year-old child) and the others are in critical condition, including Giffords, who was shot at a public event in Tucson outside a grocery store.

On Giffords specifically, Rhee said, "The neurosurgeons just finished operating on her and at the current time, I am very optimistic about recovery."

Rhee told the Arizona Republic that Giffords was shot in the head, "through and through," and the bullet passed through her brain.

Dr. Manny Alvarez tells Fox News that Giffords is in for a "long fight," and though survival from a gunshot wound to the head is rare, it is not unprecedented. About 5 percent will survive and it depends where exactly the shot took place.

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