An 18 month old boy who was pronounced dead at a Gilbert hospital was later found alive in the facility morgue, his mother and investigators said.
Hospital records and a police report show emergency responders brought Vincent Fiordilino to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center after he was pulled from a family swimming pool and given CPR. The report places the initial 911 call at 5:38 p.m., and lists the boy arriving in the emergency department shortly after.
Physicians and staff declared Vincent dead at 6:20 p.m., according to the police report. His mother, Alexus Fiordilino, said she thought she heard breathing when she hugged him goodbye, but she accepted the doctor’s judgment. Police officers in the emergency room reported seeing what they described as gasping in the minutes after the pronouncement.
Documents reviewed by the family’s lawyer show a test ordered to measure blood oxygen was canceled, and lab results that could have influenced care did not arrive until 6:38 p.m., 18 minutes after the time of death. Medical staff moved the child to a cold room used as a morgue later that evening. At 11:52 p.m., a medical examiner’s employee found Vincent breathing, and he was airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
Family attorney John Brewer said Vincent remains severely brain injured, cannot swallow, seizes, and cannot sit or crawl on his own. Fiordilino told reporters the experience is something she relives every day, and that finding her son alive felt like an “unexplainable feeling.”
Investigation And Aftermath
The case has prompted multiple reviews and conflicting actions by local authorities. Gilbert Police recommended child abuse charges against both parents after investigators said the couple lost track of the toddler during a Super Bowl party and that both parents admitted to smoking marijuana earlier that day. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell later decided not to charge the Fiordilinos, the county announced.
The police department has asked the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to review the handling of Vincent’s care for possible felony charges against the treating physician, Dr. Aryan Toosi. Brewer told reporters he plans to file a formal complaint against Dr. Toosi and the hospital, saying the doctor provided information that led the parents to stop resuscitation efforts. The lawyer alleged key test results cited by the doctor were not completed until after the child was declared dead.
Dr. Toosi’s attorney Scott Holden issued a statement saying the doctor wishes the child continued recovery and that he is committed to delivering high quality care. Mercy Gilbert Medical Center described the incident as heartbreaking and declined further comment, citing patient privacy. Nursing staff told investigators they believed the breathing observed after the pronouncement was agonal and related to prior compressions and pressure applied by family members while saying goodbye.
