On February 8, during a Super Bowl gathering at a residence in Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, an 18-month-old toddler was found face-down in an in-ground pool and pulled out unresponsive, according to a police report.

The child was transported to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. Despite this, when a transporter from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office arrived over five hours later to retrieve the child from the hospital's cold room, the toddler was found to be breathing.

Multiple people, including the child's distraught parents and two police officers present at the hospital, had questioned whether the child was still breathing after the declaration of death. The officers reported seeing the child "gasping for air" and hearing an "audible gasp," but hospital staff initially explained this as "agonal breathing," which is air and gases leaving the body.

After hospital staff realized the child was alive, he was air-lifted to Phoenix Children's Hospital for further care. The child's medical records were not included in the police report, leaving details of the medical assessment unclear.

Doctors follow strict protocols when declaring death, including confirming the cessation of vital signs, spontaneous breathing, heartbeat, and pulse. While extremely rare, spontaneous return of circulation after CPR has been stopped is technically possible, with a review identifying 65 such cases over nearly four decades.

The case has been submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for review and remains under investigation.

Sources