An 18-month-old boy was found breathing inside a hospital morgue mere hours after being pronounced dead after an emergency visit to the ER.
According to NBC News, the baby, Vincent Lorenzo Fiordilino, had spent nearly six hours in a body storage room after an emergency room physician at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center pronounced him dead following a near-drowning in a pool.
And then the toddler lived.
Vincent was pulled from his family’s backyard pool on Feb. 8 after relatives found him face down in the water. CPR began immediately before he was rushed to the hospital.
About 35 minutes after arriving, the attending physician declared him dead and reportedly asked for a moment of silence. But according to a Gilbert Police report, officers, family members, and even detectives kept hearing the child gasp for air. Hospital staff said the sounds were agonal breathing, an occasional post-death reflex. Staff moved Vincent into the hospital’s refrigerated morgue.
More than four hours later, when the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office arrived to collect his body, Vincent was discovered breathing. He was immediately airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
18-Month-Old Boy Found Alive in Morgue After Hospital Pronounced Him Dead
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center says it conducted an internal investigation but has not released its findings or answered questions about whether the physician involved remains on staff. The doctor’s attorney said there is “much more to this case” than has been publicly reported.
Police have also questioned parents. Investigators allege that both parents admitted to smoking marijuana the morning of the incident and may not have realized the toddler wandered into the pool because they were impaired. Gilbert police have recommended child abuse charges, though the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has not announced whether it will pursue those charges.
Vincent has since been released from the hospital. While he seems to have avoided major brain damage, according to the family’s fundraiser, they say he still faces months of therapy and medical monitoring.
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