Arizona toddler declared dead found alive in hospital morgue hours later
An 18-month-old boy in Arizona, declared dead after drowning in a pool, was found breathing in a hospital morgue cold room hours later. The child has since recovered and been discharged.
A newly released police report reveals that a US toddler who was found unresponsive in an Arizona pool and declared dead was later discovered to be alive in the hospital's "cold room".
The family of the 18-month-old frantically called police after they found him face down in the pool at a home in the Phoenix-area suburb of Gilbert on 8 February. First responders performed life-saving measures before the child was transported to hospital and declared dead an hour later.
According to the police report, officers told the hospital physician, Dr Aryan Toosi, that they had seen signs of life. The doctor responded, "please do your thing and let me do my thing", the report says. "I went to medical school for a reason," Toosi said.
Family had gathered to watch the NFL Super Bowl game when police were called. Gilbert police arrived around 17:30 MST, and the child was taken to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 18:20. "If there's no objections, I'd like to call time of death," Toosi said, according to bodycam footage. "Time of death 18:20. Moment of silence," the doctor said.
A transporter from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office arrived at the hospital five hours later and found the child still breathing, according to police. He was flown to another hospital, where he recovered and has since been released.
Medical records for the child were not included in the police report, leaving uncertainty about what exactly happened. The doctor's attorney, Scott Holden, told the Associated Press that "there is much more to this case, both factually and medically, than has been reported thus far".
Police are recommending negligence charges against the parents. Investigators said there was a strong smell of marijuana at the home, leading them to believe the child may have had unsupervised access to the pool. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has not yet decided whether to press charges.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center said in a statement that 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". The hospital called it "a heartbreaking situation" and declined to release further details.
