Arizona toddler declared dead found breathing in hospital morgue
An 18-month-old boy was pronounced dead after a pool near-drowning, then found breathing nearly six hours later in Mercy Gilbert’s morgue.
An 18-month-old Arizona boy was pronounced dead in an emergency room and later found breathing in a hospital morgue after staff moved him there from Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. The child, Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino, had been pulled from the family’s backyard pool around 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 8, and the death pronouncement came at about 6:20 p.m. before he was discovered alive at 11:52 p.m.
Gilbert police records and body-camera video show that the warning signs did not stop with the first exam. Officers wrote that they saw repeated signs of life, including audible gasping and a nurse saying, “I have a pulse,” while one officer said the death was declared “in error.” The doctor identified in the report as A. Toosi was Aryan Toosi, an osteopathic physician whose listed work address is Chandler Regional Medical Center, and his Arizona license shows no disciplinary actions.
The child was transported to the hospital morgue about an hour after the pronouncement, where a transporter with the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office later found him breathing and moved him to another hospital. The child ultimately survived and had been released from the hospital. Mercy Gilbert Medical Center conducted a “heartbreaking situation” review, and patient safety remained its highest priority.
The near-drowning itself is now under review by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and Gilbert police recommended child abuse charges against the parents. A police report said the parents’ state of mind may have been impaired by marijuana, and both admitted smoking marijuana the morning of the drowning.
Death certification is a formal medical and legal act in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s handbook for physicians. The American Academy of Neurology’s 2023 consensus guideline requires trained clinicians to follow defined prerequisites, a neurologic examination, apnea testing and other checks before declaring brain death or death by neurologic criteria.
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