A week after he was shot in the hip during a Republican baseball team practice, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise is now in fair condition, according to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
He "is beginning an extended period of healing and rehabilitation," the hospital said in a statement Wednesday.
It is a dramatic turnaround for the 51-year-old representative from Louisiana, who was in critical condition and at "imminent risk of death" when first admitted to the hospital, according to Dr. Jack Sava, MedStar's director of trauma.
The American Hospital Association says a person is in fair condition when the vital signs are stable and within normal limits; the patient is conscious, but may be uncomfortable; and indicators are favorable."
It was early in the morning of June 14 when James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill., opened fire with a rifle on a group of Republicans practicing for an annual congressional baseball game.
Hodgkinson shot four people before U.S. Capitol Police officers took him down. The officers were part of a security detail assigned to Scalise because he is majority whip and the third-ranking GOP House member.
Scalise was the most seriously injured in the attack.The bullet pierced his pelvis, fracturing bones and injuring internal organs. He has undergone several surgeries and received multiple blood transfusions.
His condition appears to have steadily improved. By the weekend, it was upgraded to serious, before Wednesday's boost to fair.
The attack spurred an outpouring of bipartisan support, and Scalise's colleagues on Capitol Hill continue to rally together. Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who is filling in as whip, is hosting a two-day blood drive, which ends on Thursday. McHenry tweeted pictures of Vice President Mike Pence donating blood on Tuesday.
Inspiring to see members of Congress & staffers at the blood drive organized to help those hurt in last week's shooting. #TeamScalise pic.twitter.com/p0jlhPiC4K
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) June 20, 2017
The three other people also shot in Wednesday's attack are Congressional aide Zach Barth, lobbyist Matt Mika and U.S. Capitol Police Special Agent Crystal Griner.
Barth was shot in the leg and has already been released from the hospital.
Mika suffered a wound to the chest and is expected to make a full recovery, his family said in a statement.
Griner sustained a gunshot wound to the ankle.
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