An Arizona mom says her toddler was declared dead, then found breathing in a hospital morgue hours later: ‘How do you do that to a baby?

A toddler in Gilbert, Arizona, was pronounced dead after a pool accident and found alive at the hospital’s morgue more than five hours later. According to ABC15, his mother, Alexus Fiordilino, walked through the day in her first interview. Her 18-month-old son, Vincent, was found in the family pool on Super Bowl Sunday and taken to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center.

Alexus ranked that Sunday among the hardest days she has lived through. “I had to say goodbye,” she recalled, and she asked, “Do you know how hard that is?” Emergency room physician Dr. Aryan Toosi returned about five to ten minutes later, she remembered, and explained that the boy’s pH levels were too high. In her recollection, he added that bringing Vincent back would not give him “a good form of life.”

Alexus described hugging her son as she parted from him. “He was so cold,” she noted. Her mother-in-law hugged the boy and remarked that he sounded as if he were breathing, Alexus recounted, and relatives were told the sound was normal.

Records show a gap before the test results

Records the outlet reviewed list 6:20 as the time Toosi pronounced the boy dead. They also seem to indicate that the blood-gas results reached the doctor 18 minutes later, at 6:38. John Brewer, the family’s attorney, explained that the physician later pointed to that test as part of his reasoning. The family wants to know when the numbers came back. “They need to make it right for the child,” Brewer added.

Heavily redacted footage from Gilbert officers’ cameras captures a voice at the hospital asking, “Do we have results on the gas yet?” Police records describe an officer hearing an audible gasp after the pronouncement. More than five hours later, a medical examiner’s team arrived to collect Vincent and found him alive in the hospital’s cold room. He was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

“He was alone for five and a half hours,” Alexus responded. “How do you do that to a baby?” She shared pictures of her son during physical therapy, and Brewer indicated that the boy will need lifelong care. “There’s no, like, happy ending,” she remarked.

A Dignity Health communications staff member called the situation heartbreaking and added, “Patient safety and exceptional care are our highest priorities.” In a statement, Scott Holden, an attorney for Toosi, noted that “we cannot speak to the details of the care provided at this time.” He pointed to ongoing legal action and rules that protect patient privacy.

Sgt. Jordan Truckenbrod of the Gilbert Police Department explained that investigators “did not establish probable cause for any criminal conduct involving medical personnel,” so no charges were forwarded. Police are referring the case to the state Attorney General’s Office, and they have no estimate for when that review will finish.

Questions over how a death is confirmed have surfaced before, as when a girl sat up in her coffin after her father declared her dead.