Giffords breathing on her own, doctor says

Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is seen in an undated handout photo provided by her Congressional campaign, January 8, 2011.

TUCSON (Reuters) - Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, gravely wounded in a shooting rampage, is able to breath on her own although she remains in critical condition, a doctor treating her said on Tuesday.

Giffords was shot through the head by a gunman who sprayed a meeting with pistol fire in Tucson on Saturday, killing six people including a federal judge, a nine-year-old girl and one of Giffords' aides.

"She's able to generate her own breaths. She's breathing on her own," Dr. Michael Lemole told a news conference at University Hospital in Tucson.

"I'm happy to say she is holding her own," he said.

Lemole added that Giffords continued to be ventilated through a breathing tube "to protect her airway so she doesn't have complications like pneumonia."

Gifford was shot once through the back of the head at a meeting with constituents outside a Tuscon Safeway store on Saturday, the bullet passing through her brain and exiting her brow.

Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old college dropout made his first court appearance on Monday on five federal charges, including the attempted assassination of Giffords.

Random gun violence is commonplace in the United States but political assassinations are not. The attempted assassination has sparked a fierce debate about the sharply partisan and aggressive tone of U.S. political debate.

Lemole said she continued to "follow simple commands," and doctors had been able "to back off" some of the sedation she had been receiving, although he gave no timeline for her convalescence.

"We have to play this according to her timeline, not ours, and we have to avoid the frustration that so often her family will feel, we her doctors will feel, and all of you will feel ... She's going to take her recovery at her own pace."

Giffords is one of six people being treated for gunshot wounds at the hospital.

A spokesman said three remain in serious condition, and two in fair condition. One patient is undergoing surgery.

(Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Greg McCune)