Doctor anticipates recovery for Scalise

WASHINGTON — Congressman Steve Scalise can hope to make an “excellent recovery,” his trauma surgeon said Friday, even though the lawmaker arrived at the hospital Wednesday at imminent risk of death after getting shot at a congressional baseball practice.

In his first public comments since the shooting, Dr. Jack Sava of MedStar Washington Hospital Center said it’s a “good possibility” that Scalise will be able to return to work.

Sava declined to put a timeline on when that would happen or when Scalise, 51, would be able to leave the hospital. The doctor described how a bullet from an assault rifle entered Scalise’s hip and traversed his pelvis, shattering blood vessels, bones and internal organs along the way.

For now, Scalise remains in critical condition in the hospital ’s intensive care unit. Since then, the lawmaker has undergone multiple surgeries and procedures to stop the bleeding and repair bone. He has been sedated, but has been brought out of sedation periodically and been able to recognize and communicate with his family, Sava said.

Scalise was wounded when a gunman opened fire at a GOP lawmaker baseball practice Wednesday morning. The fact that his injuries brought him near death was not widely known initially.

Sava said Friday that there are hundreds of bullet fragments in Scalise’s body but, “We fully expect him to be able to walk” and “hopefully run.”