A remarkable series of events unfolded in Gilbert, Arizona, where an 18-month-old toddler was pulled from a backyard pool in February and later declared dead at a hospital, only to be discovered breathing hours afterward in a room used as a hospital morgue. According to recently released police records, the child survived and has since been discharged from medical care.
The incident began on February 8 when first responders were dispatched to a home around 5:30 p.m. following a reported drowning. Emergency personnel performed life-saving measures on the child before transporting him to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where a doctor pronounced him dead approximately one hour later. About five hours after that declaration, police were informed that the boy was breathing, and he was airlifted to another hospital for treatment.
Gilbert police are now recommending negligence charges against the parents. Investigators reported a strong odor of marijuana at the residence and open doors that could have allowed unsupervised access to the pool. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case and has declined further comment.
Body camera footage from two Gilbert police officers reportedly captured possible signs of life multiple times before the child was taken to the hospital’s “cold room.” At one point, Dr. Aryan Toosi, the attending physician, told an officer, “Please do your thing and let me do my thing. I went to medical school for a reason.” Scott Holden, an attorney representing Toosi, stated that there is “much more to this case, both factually and medically, than has been reported thus far.”
A team from the local medical examiner’s office found the boy breathing when they arrived at the cold room and immediately rushed him to another hospital. Mercy Gilbert Medical Center released a statement saying it conducted “a thorough review of all aspects of the care provided to learn what happened and to make meaningful changes to strengthen our care,” calling it “a heartbreaking situation.”
A GoFundMe page created to assist the family with medical bills referred to the toddler as “baby Vincent” and noted he would require extensive therapy, thanking supporters for their prayers and kindness.
Cases of mistaken death declarations are rare but not unprecedented. Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco not involved in this case, explained that such incidents are more common in elderly patients than in children. “The criteria of death require no heartbeat, no breathing, and no brain activity or neurologic activity,” she said. “It’s either someone inexperienced got involved or a policy failure. Because people, once they’re dead, they don’t come back to life — that doesn’t happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
