An 18-month-old baby was found alive in a hospital morgue in the United States after doctors had declared him dead five hours earlier. Meanwhile, police are considering neglect charges against the child's parents for drowning.
Foreign media reported on 8 July 2026, citing newly released police reports, that an 18-month-old American baby was found unconscious in a swimming pool in Arizona. Subsequently, doctors declared the child dead, but several hours later, the child was discovered alive in the hospital's morgue.
This incident occurred on 8 February 2026 when the boy's family called police in panic after finding him face down in a pool at their home in the Gilbert area, a suburb of Phoenix. Rescue personnel performed life-saving measures before the child was taken to the hospital and declared dead an hour later.
According to police reports, officers informed Dr. Aryan Toosi, the attending physician at the hospital, that they observed signs of life in the child. However, Dr. Toosi responded, “Please do your duty and let me do mine,” adding, “I graduated from medical school.”
The incident took place while the family was gathered to watch the NFL Super Bowl game, shortly before the police received the drowning report.
At 5:30 p.m. MST on the day of the incident, Gilbert police arrived at the residence. The child was then taken to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where he was declared dead at 6:20 p.m. MST.
“If there are no objections, I will declare the time of death,” Dr. Toosi said, according to bodycam footage obtained by local NBC News affiliates. “Time of death: 18:20. Please observe a moment of silence.”
But at 11:20 p.m. MST, about five hours later, personnel transporting the body from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's office arrived at the hospital morgue and found the child was still breathing.
The child was then airlifted to another hospital, where he received treatment, recovered, and has since been cleared to return home.
Police reports did not include the child's medical records, leaving details unclear. Scott Holden, Dr. Toosi's attorney, told the Associated Press, “There are many more details in this case, both factual and medical, than have been reported so far.”
Regarding the parents, police are preparing neglect charges because investigators detected a strong smell of marijuana inside the home, suggesting the child may have accessed the pool area without supervision. However, the Maricopa County District Attorney's office has not yet decided whether to file charges.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center issued a statement saying the hospital has conducted “a thorough review of every aspect of the care involved in this incident to understand what happened and to implement meaningful changes to strengthen our standards of care.”
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Source:bbc