Arizona toddler declared dead after near-drowning was alive for hours in 'cold room', records say

[erronis]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/07/phoenix-toddler-alive-hospital

Officers say they saw signs of life multiple times, and after hospital treated the child, he was taken to hospital's morgue

A toddler who was declared dead after being discovered in a backyard pool in February was actually alive and found hours later in a room that serves as the hospital morgue, recently released police records show.

Two Gilbert police officers saw possible signs of life multiple times, but the child was still taken to the hospital's "cold room" after being treated by staff, according to the documents.

"Please do your thing and let me do my thing," Dr Aryan Toosi told an officer at one point, according to the report. "I went to medical school for a reason."

First responders were dispatched to the home at about 5.30pm on 8 February in response to a reported drowning. They performed life-saving measures on the child before taking him to a hospital where the boy was pronounced dead about an hour later.

About five hours later, police were notified that the child was indeed breathing, and he was flown to another hospital. The boy ultimately survived and has been released.

. . .

[senseandsensibility]

1. Happy ending at least

but wow. Scary story.

[calimary]

18. No kidding!

[Maru Kitteh]

2. The cold therapy may have saved his life and brain function.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Cheating Death has a chapter devoted to hypothermia and induced hypothermia and the role it can play in saving life in instances of trauma.

[LisaL]

13. I don't think Dr. Gupta would recommend

getting the "cold therapy" in the morgue.

[Maru Kitteh]

16. As in the times of the first doctors, sometimes it's what they neglect to do

that saves you.

But yeah, not a recommended method of reducing one’s metabolic demands, for sure.

[pnwmom]

19. May have -- but I heard that he may have sustained brain damage. nt

[struggle4progress]

3. ... Aryan Toosi, an osteopathic physician licensed in Arizona ...

[erronis]

6. I'm not big into doxxing people before an investigation. But the opacity of this hospital chain

is striking. They're covering up for their own inadequacies by using medical and legal coverage. And they'll hope that the story will die quietly and they can go on about BUSINESS as usual.

[Deuxcents]

4. Is the child alright..any expected problems for the rest of its life? Did enough oxygen get to the brain?

[MustLoveBeagles]

5. All good questions

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear Deuxcents . . . The clip I copied and pasted below tells you the happy ending:

About five hours later, police were notified that the child was indeed breathing, and he was flown to another hospital. The boy ultimately survived and has been released.


It was in the OP.

[Deuxcents]

9. Thank you and I did read it..I'm wondering about long term effects and hope he has a long and healthy life

[LisaL]

11. I have no idea what his current condition is.

I can't find any recent updates.

[LisaL]

10. Released where?

I haven't seen any recent updates indicating his current condition. Per the gofundme from back in February, he definitely was not released home the same day. He was breathing with an assistance of a ventilator.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. The post does not say where he was released.

[LisaL]

15. I can't find any recent updates on his condition.

Gofundme set up back in February claimed he was going to need extensive therapy. But it provided no updates.

[BannonsLiver]

7. The Dr should take this as a sign from the universe he's in the wrong line of work.

[milestogo]

12. Prounouncing a person dead would seem to be one one of the easier

tasks of being a doctor.

[lonely bird]

17. Iirc

There is something called mammalian diving response. Perhaps that was involved?

[fierywoman]

20. Something of this nature happened to my grandfather in World War I. He crashed the plane

he was flying (a biplane). He was declared dead. His sister -- a nurse -- went to see his body in the morgue and realized he was still alive. He lived to be in his early 70s. And so I am here...

[Melon]

21. I gave CPR to a child that drowned as a college student. I was a jr officer on a boating patrol on a lake.

That boy was a for an hour. In some cases extremely cold water can play a crucial role as a mammalian diving reflex can clamp the larynx closed and slow respiration and heart rate. This is why you are not suppose to declare death unless they are warm and dead. This drowning was in phoenix so cold couldn’t have played a role. A body of someone brain dead can absolutely move or jerk or gasp even though they are medically dead. This is obviously malpractice from the doctor. They should be checking the brain for any sign of life.

In my situation, we were able to get the child’s heart beating again, but his brain was gone and there was no saving him. Perhaps there was a bit of luck putting this baby in the cold room. This is the exact treatment that can be used for child drowning victims to limit brain damage and brain/organ swelling.

[sarisataka]

22. When I went through e m t and paramedic training

We received instructions as to, when we could call a death in the field. Most of it was pretty obvious, such as unsurvivable trauma to the body rigor mortis...

One thing we were instructed, however, is in the case of a child drowning, it is never to be called. Nor is CPR to be stopped. You go as long as you physically can or until you can get the child to higher level of care. There are too many instances of a child drowning, especially in cold water. Which if I recall, is only sixty degrees fahrenheit or lower, but they have come back long after there should be any hope of survival.