Arizona toddler declared dead found alive hours later in hospital morgue

A Gilbert toddler was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. on Feb. 8, then found breathing about five hours later in a hospital “cold room” that also serves as the morgue. Two Gilbert police officers had already seen possible signs of life multiple times, and one wrote that a nurse said, “I have a pulse.”

First responders were dispatched at about 5:30 p.m. to a reported drowning at a home in a Phoenix suburb. The child had been found in a backyard pool. The boy was moved after the death declaration, even as officers tried to flag what they were seeing at the bedside.

Body-camera video captured a tense exchange between one officer and Dr. Aryan Toosi, an Arizona-licensed osteopathic physician with a listed work address at Chandler Regional Medical Center, part of the same Dignity Health network as Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. One officer wrote that the death was pronounced “in error.” Public records show no disciplinary actions on Toosi’s Arizona license.

He was flown to another hospital after the discovery, survived, and has since been released. A GoFundMe page identified him as Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino and said he would need extensive therapy.

Gilbert police are recommending negligence charges against the parents. Investigators found a strong odor of marijuana at the home and open doors that could have allowed unsupervised access to the pool. Mercy Gilbert Medical Center conducted a thorough review of the care provided and wanted to make meaningful changes to strengthen care, calling the episode heartbreaking.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case and declined further comment. Drowning victims can be especially difficult to assess because they may have no detectable pulse and can appear dead. Mistaken-death cases are rare, but not unprecedented: in 2003, a toddler declared dead after a pool accident was later found breathing.