Woodruff and Vogt Continue to Improve in U.S.

Feb. 1, 2006 — -- Just 60 hours after surviving a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, have been through dozens of military medical hands and are now in their third country: the U.S.

Late yesterday afternoon, they were carefully transferred to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. There, the Woodruff family heard even more encouraging news.

"He's doing great," said David Woodruff, Bob's brother. "He moved his legs and his arms again when they got him into the Bethesda hospital. He attempted to open his eyes and that can't be anything but good, according to the doctors."

Woodruff is slowly being brought out of sedation, and doctors said they hope to wean him from this breathing tube in the coming days.

David Woodruff and Bob's wife traveled to Germany to be at his bedside at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. But it wasn't until his arrival in Bethesda that his other brothers and his parents had a chance to see him.

"It's really hard," David Woodruff said. "It's hard for all of us. My two youngest brothers saw him today for the first time. I got the advantage of going over there and seeing him come out of the really bad place and get better."

And doctors here and in Germany are saying the same thing about Bob's long-term outlook.

"I think it's excellent," said Lt. Col. Peter Sorini of Landstuhl. "It is my personal opinion, having seen a lot of these types of injuries and looking at the specifics of his injury, I think that his prognosis is excellent."

David Woodruff said his family is looking forward to seeing his brother back doing the news.

"We frankly are just flat out saying that he's going to be back because that's what he loves and it's what we love seeing him do and, you know, obviously, we think he's pretty good at it," David Woodruff said.

Vogt was said to be awake, alert and talking.

"I asked him if he was ready to go to Bethesda," said Sorini, "and he said he was from Paris and he preferred to go home. So I sort of sense that he had a bit of a sense of humor."

Doctors say the immediate treatment Woodruff and Vogt received in Iraq, and the fact that both were wearing body armor, were crucial in their survival. They were also wearing helmets and ballistic glasses.

Woodruff and Vogt were taken by medevac to the Green Zone in Baghdad to receive treatment within 37 minutes of the blast. They were then flown by helicopter to Balad, which is about a 20-minute ride from Baghdad.

When Woodruff and Vogt arrived, what was most important was "avoiding hypotension, a drop in blood pressure, and providing good oxygenization," said Dr. Bett Schlifka, who treated them in Balad.

"When they get to us," said Dr. Hans Bakken, who worked alongside Schlifka to treat Woodruff and Vogt, "the damage is done and it's up to us to minimize the other insults they might suffer."

How close did Woodruff and Vogt come to dying? Bakken said there's no way to answer that.

"They were seriously injured and we treated them to the best of our abilities," he said.

Woodruff and Vogt did not receive any special treatment for their fame.

"We do not distinguish whether it's soldiers or Iraqis or civilians or newsfolks, we don't know who they are," Schlifka said. "We try to treat all our patients the same and we try to give high quality care to everyone."