Her Son Was Pronounced Dead, 5 Hours Later, Shocking News

Article By Jenn Gidman

Arizona toddler Vincent Fiordilino actually wasn’t dead: ‘I didn’t even think stuff like that happened’

Doctors had said 18-month-old Vincent Fiordilino was gone—but hours later, a worker in the hospital morgue realized he was still breathing. The toddler had been pronounced dead at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center around 6:20pm on Feb. 8 after an apparent drowning in his family’s pool, per NBC News.

His mother, Alexus Fiordilino of Gilbert, Arizona, now says she thought she heard him breathe when she hugged him goodbye for what she believed was the last time, but she accepted the physician’s assurance it was only final gasps and that further efforts would extend his suffering.

Vincent was discovered alive more than five hours later, however, as his body was being collected, prompting what his mother describes as overwhelming relief. “We were praising the Lord. We were crying,” she says. “To go from hearing he was gone and then finding out he isn’t gone, it’s an unexplainable feeling.” She adds, per WVUE: “I didn’t even think stuff like that happened.”

Police records cited by KPNX show that a police officer on the scene tried to tell the attending doctor, Aryan Toosi, that Vincent still had a pulse, but his concerns were ignored, with Toosi allegedly responding, “I went to medical school for a reason.” Fiordilino’s attorney, John Brewer, says that medical records show key test results cited in ending resuscitation efforts weren’t completed until after the time of death. Brewer plans to file a complaint against Toosi, as well as the hospital, per NBC.

“Patient safety and exceptional care are our highest priorities,” the medical center says in a statement, calling the situation “heartbreaking” and citing privacy issues in declining to comment further. Toosi’s attorney also released a brief statement, noting, per KPNX: “Dr. Toosi’s thoughts are with the young patient and family, and he wishes the child continued healing and recovery.”

Meanwhile, Vincent is now home, but he’s severely brain-injured and faces many challenges, per NBC. Brewer, the family attorney, says the boy can’t sit up, crawl, or swallow. “It’s a whole different life,” Fiordilino says, per KPNX. “We’re doing everything we can, but it’ll never be the same.”

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