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Breaking News

Shark Attack Victim in Critical but Stable Condition

Aired September 03, 2001 - 22:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We've going to take you now to a news conference that's taking place in Norfolk, Virginia over a shark attack in North Carolina that killed one man and critically injured his wife.

QUESTION: Do you know if she was able to say anything about what happened? The shark or how big it was or anything at all about...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know nothing about that.

QUESTION: Critical but stable -- how is the outlook?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe she'll do well in terms of her outcome. At this point in time, I can't delineate specific injuries. But she had a blood pressure the entire time. She lost a fair amount of blood. But IVs were started down in the field down in North Carolina, transported by helicopter, and she's been doing well.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... treated in North Carolina?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know exactly what the site was. There was a doctor involved. I received a call from the doctor in North Carolina, and she will be -- she was transported after getting several IVs started down there.

QUESTION: Doctor, there was about an hour and a half after the shark bit her that she arrived here at the hospital. How huge of a problem did that cause for the doctors as far as blood loss?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was evidently received at a medical facility fairly quickly, as best as I can tell. IVs were established quickly by a physician in North Carolina so that she never lost consciousness totally is my understanding, and then she had blood requirements once she got to us. But they did a good job in North Carolina.

QUESTION: Do you know if she's aware that her husband has passed away?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know anything about that and I really can't confirm any more information about that.

QUESTION: And you operated on her -- what was the nature of that operation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I'm the emergency physician who managed her transportation from North Carolina. The emergency physicians managed that portion of it and the surgeons took her to the operating room. So I did not go to the operating room with her.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Can we assume she is out of surgery?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her condition is critical but stable.

QUESTION: And is she out of surgery?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe she is. The last I've heard, she was in the intensive care unit.

QUESTION: Any family member here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have talked to the mother by phone. Other than that, no family member is here.

QUESTION: Are they from Northern Virginia?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe they're from Maryland, but I can't confirm that exactly, too.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Doctor. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

CALLAWAY: You were listening to the emergency room physician out of Norfolk, Virginia, where a woman was taken after being bitten by a shark a few hours ago in -- in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She's in stable but critical condition right now. Her husband, however -- critical but stable condition. Her husband, however, died in that attack. This comes after another fatal shark attack over the weekend when a 10-year-old was killed in a shark attack off of Virginia Beach.

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