Giffords Unaware of Extent of Shooting

The recovering congresswoman’s chief of staff says she has not been told the details of the massacre that left six people dead.

While Gabrielle Giffords is making steady progress in recovering from a bullet wound in the brain, those around her feel she is still in too fragile a state to be told the details of the deadly massacre in which she was injured. Six people, including a high-ranking judge and a nine-year-old girl were killed in the attack. Giffords’s doctors and family have decided that because her communication skills have not fully returned she would be unable to ask the appropriate questions about the event she would no doubt want to, so it would be cruel to engage her in a discussion about it. Though she is able to communicate simple thoughts doctors warn the extent of long-term damage is still unknown.