Wounded CBS reporter breathing on ventilator

June 01, 2006|David Rising, Associated Press

BERLIN -- A CBS News correspondent critically wounded by a car bomb in Iraq that killed two colleagues was heavily sedated and breathing through a ventilator yesterday at a US military hospital in Germany, a spokeswoman said.

Still, Kimberly Dozier reacted to the arrival of her family and boyfriend, according to CBS and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Marie Shaw.

When her boyfriend visited, ``she was aware of his presence," Shaw said.

Dozier, an American, was flown to the hospital in southern Germany on Tuesday after sustaining critical injuries on Memorial Day when a car bomb exploded, killing two colleagues, a US soldier, and an Iraqi translator.

Dozier, 39, is still in intensive care in critical condition. However, she is now considered stable and the ventilator is a routine measure, Shaw said.

Shaw said she could not speculate on when Dozier may be able to go home .

``She has to be stable enough to sustain the flight," she said.

Dozier, who CBS said was wearing a flak vest at the time of the explosion, is being treated for head and lower body injuries, Shaw said. She also was visited yesterday by her parents, brother, sister, and sister-in-law, Shaw and CBS said.

Dozier was traveling in a US military convoy with cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan for a story about Memorial Day in Iraq when the car bomb exploded.

The attack killed Douglas, 48, and Brolan, 42, both British citizens.