An Arizona toddler was found alive in a hospital morgue after being declared dead following an alleged drowning, official said.
18-month-old Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.
Nearly six hours later, at 11:52 p.m., staff discovered he was still breathing as they prepared to transfer his body.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is now reviewing what happened during those hours, as well as the events leading up to the toddler’s near-drowning.
Gilbert police said Vincent survived the incident and has since been released from the hospital.
According to a police report, the boy may have wandered into the family’s swimming pool without his parents noticing while they were watching the Super Bowl.
Police said both parents admitted to using marijuana that morning, and investigators are looking into whether drug impairment may have played a role.
A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center described the incident as heartbreaking and said it carried out its own internal review. However, the hospital has not shared its findings or said whether the doctor who pronounced the child dead is still employed there.
The police report identifies the physician as Dr. A. Toosi.
According to investigators, an officer questioned the decision after the child showed signs of breathing. However, the doctor insisted the decision was correct and told the officer to let the medical team handle it.
Dr. A. Toosi’s attorney declined to discuss the case in detail, citing the ongoing investigation, patient privacy laws, and the possibility of criminal charges against the child’s parents.
His lawyer said the publicly reported details do not tell the full story.
While Vincent is not identified by name in the police report, his family later created a crowdfunding campaign to help cover his medical expenses.
A man who answered the phone at the family’s home declined to comment.
According to the fundraising page, Vincent is now breathing with the help of a ventilator. While he seemed to have avoided severe brain damage, he will still need ongoing medical monitoring and extensive rehabilitation.
The incident happened at around 5:38 p.m. on Feb. 8, when someone called 911 after Vincent was found face down in the family’s backyard pool. A relative began CPR before emergency crews arrived.
He was rushed to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where emergency room workers continued life-saving efforts.
According to the police report, Dr. Toosi informed the child’s family that Vincent had died before officially pronouncing him dead at 6:20 p.m.
Several people present in the emergency room, including the child’s parents and police officers, later told investigators they believed the toddler still showed signs of breathing.
About an hour later, as hospital staff prepared to move Vincent to the hospital’s morgue, an officer reported hearing another breath from the child.
Roughly an hour afterwards, the same detective again noticed what appeared to be breathing.
Hospital staff reportedly believed the movements were agonal respirations, involuntary gasps that can occur after the heart has stopped, and attributed them to earlier resuscitation efforts.
Vincent was then placed in the morgue, where temperatures are kept between 36 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit.
More than four hours later, when medical examiner personnel arrived to collect his body, they discovered he was still breathing.
His family was immediately notified, and Vincent was flown to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for emergency treatment.
