{"id":215870,"date":"2026-07-03T20:54:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T20:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/arizona-toddler-declared-dead-was-found-alive-in-the-morgue-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T20:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T20:54:02","slug":"arizona-toddler-declared-dead-was-found-alive-in-the-morgue-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/arizona-toddler-declared-dead-was-found-alive-in-the-morgue-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona toddler declared dead was found alive in the morgue – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At 6:20 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, an Arizona toddler was pronounced dead in an emergency room.
Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscription
Get exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.
At 11:52 p.m. that same day, the boy was found breathing in a hospital morgue.
What happened during that nearly six-hour period \u2014 and the circumstances that led to the near-drowning of 18-month-old Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino in a pool \u2014 are now under investigation by the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office.
\u201cThe child ultimately survived and has been released from the hospital,\u201d the city of Gilbert Police Department said in a statement.
But the department has also recommended to the county attorney that his parents be charged with child abuse.
The parents, according to a police report obtained by local NBC affiliate<\/a> KPNX, may have not realized their son had wandered off to the pool while the game was on due to \u201cthe potential of both parent\u2019s state of mind being impaired by marijuana and\/or other mind altering substances.\u201d
\u201cBoth admitted to smoking marijuana the morning of the drowning,\u201d the report states.
A spokesperson for the county attorney declined to comment on the case.
Meanwhile, Mercy Gilbert Medical Center confirmed it had conducted its own internal investigation into what it called a \u201cheartbreaking situation.\u201d
But the hospital has not revealed the results of its probe and declined to answer questions from NBC News concerning whether the doctor who mistakenly pronounced the boy dead remains on staff.
That doctor is identified as A. Toosi in the police report. And when he was questioned by a police officer about his decision to pronounce the boy dead while he was still gasping for air, the doctor allegedly pulled rank.
\u201cPlease do your thing and let me do my thing,\u201d Toosi is quoted as saying in the report. \u201cI went to medical school for a reason.\u201d
A doctor named Aryan Toosi <\/a>is identified in available reports as being affiliated with that hospital. He referred NBC News to lawyer Scott Holden, who did not return a call or text for comment about the case.
Vincent, the toddler, is not identified in the police report by name, but his family has sent up a crowdfunding page to help with the medical costs.
\u201cI can\u2019t comment on this right now, but thanks for calling,\u201d a man who answered the phone at the house where Vincent lives said before hanging up.
According to the crowdfunding page, Vincent is still breathing with the assistance of a ventilator. He has avoided serious brain damage but will require ongoing medical monitoring and extensive therapy.
The bizarre turn of events began around 5:38 p.m. on Feb. 8 with a 911 call for help after the boy was found floating face down in the family pool and a relative tried to revive him by performing CPR, according to the report.
The boy was then rushed to the emergency room at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where an ER team that included Toosi took over the effort to save him.
At 6:13 p.m., according to the report, Toosi was seen checking the time on \u201ca cell phone with a cheetah print orange and black case\u201d before he went out to deliver bad news to the boy\u2019s parents.
Minutes later, Toosi had words with a Gilbert police officer who appeared to question his diagnosis and then returned to the ER.
\u201cAs long as there are no objections, I\u2019d like to call time of death,\u201d Toosi said, according to the report.
Then, \u201cat approximately 18:20 hours, Dr. Toosi called the time of death and requested a moment of silence.\u201d
But the child\u2019s parents and police officers who had been in the ER said in the report that the child still appeared to be gasping for breath after he was declared dead.
Then, at around 7:18 p.m., a detective on the scene reported hearing \u201canother audible gasp\u201d as the ER workers were preparing to move the boy from the trauma room to the \u201ccold room\u201d that serves as the hospital\u2019s morgue and where the temperature is set at 36 to 39 degrees<\/a>.
That same detective said that when he returned to photograph the body an hour later he \u201cagain observed what appeared to be a gasp or air release.\u201d
\u201cThe nurse again stated it was agonal breathing and explained it was due to compressions, oxygen, and possible pressure applied by family members while saying goodbye,\u201d the report states.
And at 7:23 p.m., \u201cthe cold room door was closed,\u201d the report states.
More than four hours later, when the medical examiner\u2019s team arrived at 11:52 p.m. to retrieve the boy, \u201che was found breathing,\u201d the report states.
\u201cThe family was notified immediately\u201d and the boy was airlifted to Phoenix Children\u2019s Hospital.
Gabriella Bachara is a reporter for 12News, NBC’s affiliate in Phoenix.
Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeAt 6:20 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, an Arizona toddler was pronounced dead in an emergency room.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.At 11:52 p.m. that same day, the boy was found breathing in a hospital morgue.What happened during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}