Rescued POW was shot, doctors tell family
Parents flying to Germany to be with daughter in hospital
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Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch is put into an ambulance early Thursday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
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The U.S. military helps POWs released from captivity, all of whom have different needs. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports.
Col. David Rubenstein said rescued POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch is in 'good spirits' and is undergoing several surgeries.
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PALESTINE, West Virginia (CNN) -- Doctors told the family of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch on Friday that the rescued prisoner of war suffered gunshot wounds, a family spokesman said.
That contradicted earlier reports from a spokesman at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany -- where Lynch is recovering -- that she did not appear to have been shot or stabbed.
"During the process of examinations on her right arm and left leg, it was discovered [that] she had small-caliber, low-velocity entry and exit wounds," family spokesman Dan Little said.
Lynch was moved to an intensive care unit Friday because doctors wanted to monitor her condition more closely, Little said. He said she had a fever, an elevated heart rate and a "bit of infection," but those symptoms showed "rapid improvement" during the day.
Doctors told the 19-year-old's parents, Greg and Dee, that her wounds and the conditions in an Iraqi hospital near Nasiriya where she was being held might have caused the infection.
Lynch had pins and bolts placed in her broken right arm and both legs, which were also fractured, during operations Friday, Little said. She underwent surgery to repair a fractured disc in her back the day before.
Lynch's parents will leave for Germany on Saturday, Little said.
Lynch and seven other members of the 507th Maintenance Company were listed as missing after they made a wrong turn near Nasiriya and drove into an ambush March 23.
Five other members of the unit were shown on Iraqi TV and are listed as prisoners of war, two were killed in action and at least four were wounded.
Acting on information that government sources said was obtained by the CIA from more than one Iraqi source, U.S. Special Forces led a team of Marines, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs and Air Force pilots and controllers into enemy fire at a hospital in Nasiriya to rescue the Army private. (Full story)
The forces fought their way into the hospital where Lynch was being held and whisked her away on a stretcher.
Landstuhl spokesman Col. David Rubenstein said he could not say whether Lynch's suffered her injuries during the ambush or while she was in Iraqi custody.
He said she was being debriefed by repatriation teams that would provide medical and psychological care as long as she needs it.
