Toddler ‘declared useless’ by physician comes again to life after 5 hours in Morgue
An 18-month-old boy found at the bottom of his family pool was pronounced dead, sealed in a body bag and sent to a hospital morgue, before being discovered still breathing
Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino(Image: Gofundme)
An 18-month-old boy who fell into his family’s swimming pool was wrongly pronounced dead and zipped into a body bag – only to be found alive nearly six hours later in a hospital morgue.
Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino slipped into the backyard pool at his home in Gilbert, Arizona, USA, on February 8. After frantic emergency calls, his father pulled him from the water and began CPR as paramedics rushed him to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center.
Despite resuscitation efforts, the child was pronounced dead by Dr Aryan Toosi at 6.20pm, according to the newly released documents and emergency audio made public this month.
Vincent was then placed in a body bag and transferred to the hospital morgue. But in a shocking twist, he was allegedly still alive.
Nearly six hours later, at around 11.45pm, a Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s transporter arrived to collect the body, 12 News reported. When the transporter opened the bag to move him, they noticed the toddler was still breathing.
Vincent was reportedly rushed back for emergency treatment and then airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The newly unsealed police records allege multiple warnings were raised and ignored before the toddler was sent to the morgue.
A registered nurse at the hospital reportedly told Dr Toosi she could feel a pulse, ABC 15 Arizona reported. Officers at the scene also claim they flagged alarming signs, saying they saw Vincent moving and heard him gasping or releasing air.
But according to the police documents, Dr Toosi dismissed those concerns, describing the gasps as “agonal breathing”, which are reflexive breaths that can occur after death, and ordered that the child be taken to the morgue anyway. Vincent survived the ordeal, but his family say the outcome has been devastating.
The child reportedly suffered severe and permanent brain damage, believed to have been caused by prolonged oxygen deprivation, with the added horror of spending hours in a cold morgue while still alive, the Daily Mail reported.
He is expected to need intensive, lifelong care, and his family has launched a GoFundMe appeal to help with what they describe as astronomical medical costs.
Dignity Health Mercy Gilbert Medical Center confirmed it had launched a “thorough internal review” into how the failure occurred, according to ABC 15 Arizona.
However, the hospital has reportedly not said whether Dr Toosi has been suspended, dismissed or is still working at the facility, citing patient privacy.
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