An 18-month-old boy was declared dead at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center on Feb. 8, then found breathing in the morgue about five hours later. The case, involving a toddler found alive in morgue after a death declaration, is now under review by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Police records say the boy was pulled from a backyard swimming pool around 5:30 p.m. after a family member called 911 and described relatives performing CPR. The report says he had been floating face down for about 10 to 15 minutes before first responders rushed him to the hospital.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center report
A doctor pronounced the boy dead at 6:20 p.m., according to police records. Those records also say a nurse told the doctor, “I have a pulse,” and that the doctor told staff to stop life-saving measures. Several nurses left the emergency room in tears after the time of death was called.
About five hours later, while detectives were questioning the parents at a police station, they learned their son was still alive. Police records say parents and police later saw the child appearing to breathe and noted multiple gasps for air. Nurses described those gasps as “agonal breathing.”
Police review in Arizona
An officer heard another gasp an hour after the boy was declared dead, and just before midnight medical examiner staff found him still breathing in the morgue. He was then life-flighted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
The parents admitted to smoking marijuana and not watching their son closely during the party, according to police. The doctor who made the error is not facing criminal charges, and police said the boy may have brain damage but has been released from the hospital.
The timeline leaves one hard question for the review now underway: what chain of medical decisions led to a child being sent to the morgue while he was still breathing?
