A toddler who was declared dead in hospital after a drowning incident at a backyard pool in Gilbert, Ariz., was later discovered alive by medical staff, police told Global News in a statement
First responders were called to a home in the Phoenix suburb at about 5:30 p.m. local time on Feb. 8, where they performed life-saving measures on the toddler before taking him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, investigators said
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Gilbert police officers and fire personnel who attended the scene saw possible signs of life, the Associated Press reported, but the child was still taken to the hospital’s “cold room” after being treated by its staff, police documents obtained by the outlet noted
“Please do your thing and let me do my thing,” Dr. Aryan Toosi told an officer at one point, according to the report. “I went to medical school for a reason.”
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About five hours after the boy was pronounced dead, police were informed that the child was found to be alive by a team of medical examiners, at which time he was transported from the “cold room” to another hospital, where he was treated and later released
The boy’s parents have since come under scrutiny from police, who claim in the documents that there was a strong smell of marijuana emanating from the home and open doors that left the pool easily accessible, the Associated Press said, adding that the documents cite 911 calls from relatives saying the child had been removed from the pool and was unconscious
Police told Global News Wednesday that based on the facts of the investigation, one charge of Child or vulnerable adult abuse was recommended to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for both the mother and father of the victim
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will review the case and make a final charging decision, the statement said
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where the 18-month-old was taken, in a statement to the Associated Press, called what had happened to the child “a heartbreaking situation” and said the hospital conducted “a thorough review of all aspects of the care provided to learn what happened and to make meaningful changes to strengthen our care.”
A lawyer for Toosi told the Associated Press he would not comment on behalf of his client but said there was much more to the story, both “factually and medically,” than was being reported
A GoFundMe, which was set up in February to help the family cover the cost of the boy’s medical bills, says the child’s organs had begun shutting down shortly after he was found alive and that early medical scans showed signs of brain damage
“Thank you for your prayers, your kindness, and your support for baby Vincent—our miracle fighter,” the fundraising page also says
There have been other cases of people discovered alive after being declared dead
In Southfield, Mich., Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old with cerebral palsy, was declared dead by a doctor over the phone in 2020. City paramedics had responded to a 911 call at her family’s home
Later that day, a funeral home opened the body bag and found Beauchamp gasping for air. She was swiftly taken to a hospital but never recovered and died two months later. Southfield settled a negligence lawsuit filed by the family for US$3.25 million
It is rare for a person to be declared deceased mistakenly, though when it does happen, it may be down to inexperience or intermittent shallow breathing that is hard to detect, Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco, told the Associated Press, and it occurs more frequently among older adults than in children and toddlers
—With files from The Associated Press
