Toddler declared dead in drowning incident found alive in hospital morgue: Police

Several people reported that the boy seemed to be gasping for air, police said.

A toddler who was pronounced dead after being pulled unresponsive from a pool at an Arizona residence was found to be breathing hours later in a hospital morgue, according to a recently released police report.

The shocking chain of events unfolded on Feb. 8, when the 18-month-old child was found face-down in an in-ground pool during a Super Bowl gathering at the home in Gilbert, a Phoenix suburb, according to the police report.

The child, whose name has been redacted from the police report, was transported to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., according to the police report. When a transporter with the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office arrived at the hospital over five hours later to retrieve the child from the hospital's "cold room," he was found to be breathing, according to police.

The child's medical records were not included in the police report, meaning it's not clear what happened. Doctors have very specific protocols when declaring a time of death, including a so-called ‘cardiopulmonary death exam,’ or a documented cessation of all the following: vital signs, spontaneous breathing, heartbeat, and pulse.

Generally speaking, it is extremely rare - but technically possible - for people to experience a spontaneous return of circulation after CPR has been stopped, with one review identifying 65 cases over nearly four decades.

Multiple people, including the distraught parents of the child and two officers who were at the hospital, had questioned whether the child was breathing after he was declared dead, according to the police report.

While saying goodbye to their son, the toddler's parents expressed that they believed he was still breathing "based on the appearance of him gasping for air," according to the police report. The two officers at the hospital, upon reporting seeing the child "gasping for air" and hearing an "audible gasp," were informed by hospital staff that this was "agonal breathing," and air and gases leaving the body, according to the report.

Shortly before the doctor -- identified in the report as A. Toosi -- declared the time of death, one of the officers reported hearing a nurse say, "I have a pulse," according to the police report. When the officer informed the doctor of this, Toosi allegedly "arrogantly told me he was the doctor, he has the medical degree, he went to medical school for a reason, and to let him do his thing," the officer recounted in the report.

The other officer reported hearing the doctor say during this exchange, "Please do your thing and let me do my thing. I went to medical school for a reason," according to the police report. The doctor later apologized for the behavior, according to the report.

The officers reported hearing Toosi tell the hospital staff to stop life-saving measures and that he would like to call the time of death as long as there were no objections, according to the police report. No one spoke out, and Toosi requested another pulse check before calling the time of death, according to the report.

After hospital staff later realized the child was actually alive, he was air-lifted to Phoenix Children's Hospital for care, police said. He made "significant strides" in the wake of the drowning though was expected to need physical therapy, according to the police report.

Online records show that a Dr. Aryan Toosi, DO, is licensed through the Arizona Osteopathic Board, and, according to a Healthgrades profile , is affiliated with Mercy Gilbert Medical Center.

An attorney for the doctor, Scott Holden, said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday that they are declining to comment at this time "out of respect for the patient's privacy."

A spokesperson for the hospital called this a "heartbreaking situation."

"We immediately conducted a thorough review of all aspects of the care that was provided to learn what happened and to make meaningful changes to strengthen our care," the spokesperson said. "We are unable to comment on those involved in the patient's care, and out of respect for the patient's privacy, we cannot provide any additional details. We continue to work with the family and their representative. Patient safety and exceptional care are our highest priorities."

The 157-page police report largely focuses on what led up to the drowning and recommends that the toddler's parents be charged with child abuse for alleged negligence. The report alleges that, after smoking marijuana in the garage that day, the parents did not properly secure the garage doors, allowing their son to access the pool. It also alleges they did not properly supervise him.

Multiple adults were in the home at the time of the drowning, and they "collectively stated that each believed another adult was watching him," the police report stated.

The case has been submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for review. As of Tuesday, the case remains under review and no charging decision has been made, according to a spokesperson for the attorney's office.

ABC News reached out to attorneys for the child's father for comment and has not yet received a response.

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