A toddler in Arizona who was declared dead after being found in a backyard pool was discovered alive hours later in a hospital room that served as a morgue, according to recently released police records.

First responders were dispatched to a home in Gilbert, a Phoenix suburb, at about 5:30 p.m. on February 8 after a reported drowning. They performed life-saving measures on the 18-month-old before taking him to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where a doctor pronounced him dead about an hour later.

Police records show that two Gilbert police officers told hospital staff they had seen possible signs of life multiple times before the child was placed in the hospital's "cold room." At one point, Dr. Aryan Toosi told an officer, "Please do your thing and let me do my thing," adding, "I went to medical school for a reason," according to the report.

About five hours after the child was pronounced dead, a transporter from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office arrived and found the boy was breathing. He was flown to another hospital and ultimately survived, later being released.

Gilbert police are recommending negligence charges against the parents. Investigators said there was a strong odor of marijuana at the home and open doors that could have allowed unsupervised access to the pool. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said it was reviewing the case and declined further comment.

In 911 calls, two relatives frantically reported that the child had been pulled from the pool, with people at the scene heard shrieking. One caller said the toddler was unconscious.

The family had gathered to watch the NFL Super Bowl game when the incident occurred, according to the police report.

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center said in a statement that 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." The hospital described the situation as "heartbreaking" but declined to release further details.

Dr. Toosi's attorney, Scott Holden, told the Associated Press that "there is much more to this case, both factually and medically, than has been reported thus far."

Perspectives

Cases where someone is mistakenly declared dead and later found to be alive are rare but do happen, according to San Francisco forensic pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek. She said determining death depends on a doctor's skill and training, and policies can differ from hospital to hospital.

Such cases have occurred before. Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old with cerebral palsy, was declared dead by a doctor over the phone in 2020 but was later found alive in a funeral home.

Authorities have not released the child's name, and the investigation by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is ongoing.