An Arizona Mom Whose 18-Month-Old Son Was Found Alive in a Hospital Morgue Hours After He Was Declared Dead Is Speaking Out for the First Time

For almost eight months, Alexus Fiordilino kept her family’s story to herself. Her son, Vincent, was 18 months old when a doctor at an Arizona hospital pronounced him dead after a near-drowning, and hours later he was found alive in the hospital morgue.

Now the Gilbert mother has spoken publicly for the first time, telling Arizona’s Family that she still relives that day and that she believes her little boy would be in a very different place today if the medical team had waited for one more test result.

A Super Bowl Party, a Pool and a Frantic Rescue

The day began as a celebration. On Feb. 8, the family was at a Super Bowl party in Gilbert when Vincent was found floating face down in a backyard pool, according to the station’s reporting.

Gilbert police officers arrived and started CPR. Paramedics then rushed the toddler to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. His mother has said she begged the first responders to save her son, and in the minutes that followed, the hospital team worked on him before a doctor declared him dead.

What happened next is the part of the story that stunned parents across the country. Hours after that declaration, Vincent was discovered alive in the hospital morgue. Earlier reporting carried by FOX19 and Gray News said a Maricopa County Medical Examiner transporter found him breathing with a pulse at about 11:52 p.m., and he was flown to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Fiordilino described the moment she learned he was breathing as one of overwhelming gratitude, a feeling that the baby she believed she had lost had come back to her.

Eighteen Minutes on the Hospital Timeline

Documents shared by the family’s attorney lay out a minute-by-minute record of that evening, as reported by WBBJ-TV and Gray News.

Vincent arrived at Mercy Gilbert at about 6:04 p.m. At 6:08 p.m., a doctor ordered an arterial blood gas test, a lab check of the oxygen in the blood. That order was later canceled. Labs were collected at 6:11 p.m.

Body-camera footage from 6:13 p.m. shows officers asking whether the gas results had come back yet. Staff told them they had not. At 6:20 p.m., Vincent was pronounced dead.

The blood gas results arrived at 6:38 p.m., 18 minutes after the declaration. The same documents show the doctor did not sign his report until the day after Vincent was found alive in the morgue.

For Fiordilino, those 18 minutes are the heart of the matter. She has said the family placed its trust in professionals who had taken an oath and promised to do everything they could, and she believes the outcome might have been different if doctors had waited for the numbers.

Where the Case Stands Now

The questions have moved beyond the family. Gilbert police asked the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to review whether felony child abuse charges should be filed against the doctor, according to Gray’s report. The attorney general’s office has not decided whether it will take up the case.

The family’s attorney has said a complaint against the hospital and the doctor is planned. No public statement from Mercy Gilbert Medical Center was included in the latest reports, which were also published by FOX19.

The parents have faced scrutiny of their own. The July report said both parents reportedly admitted to smoking marijuana and not watching their son closely, and that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office was reviewing whether they could face child abuse charges. That same report said the doctor’s attorney declined to comment out of courtesy to the family and patient confidentiality. None of the reports announced charges against anyone.

Vincent survived, but his family’s attorney says he now has significant medical issues that will require lifelong care. The little boy who was once listed as dead is growing up, and his mother says there is not a single day she does not think about that February night.

Speaking out, she has said, is about more than her own family. She wants people to understand how close she came to losing her son, and how many decisions in a short window of time shaped his future.

The Minutes That Matter Around Water

Vincent’s story began, like so many others, with a few unseen moments near a pool. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than from any other cause, and that drowning happens in seconds and is often silent.

The agency’s guidance for families centers on a few layers of protection. Pools should be fully enclosed by a four-sided fence at least four feet high, with gates that close and latch on their own. Pool toys that draw little ones to the water should be put away when the pool is not in use.

The CDC also urges families to name one responsible adult whose only job is to watch children in and around water, without phones, reading or alcohol as distractions. At parties, where many grown-ups assume someone else is watching, that single assigned “water watcher” can make the difference.

CPR is the final layer. The CDC notes that CPR skills can help keep someone alive until paramedics arrive, and that classes are offered online and in person through groups such as the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association. In Vincent’s case, it was officers performing CPR who kept him going long enough to reach the hospital.

Families who have lived through a medical emergency often say the same thing afterward: they wish they had learned the basics sooner. Parent Diaries has covered children who stepped up in those moments, including an 11-year-old in West Jordan, Utah, who called 911 and got her dad home to start CPR, and the frightening case of a 17-month-old who nearly died after drinking raw goat milk. Each one is a reminder of how quickly a normal day with a toddler can turn.

Many parents will read about Vincent and think first of the pool. His mother hopes they will also think about what happens after the ambulance doors close, and about the family still waiting for answers about the minutes that followed.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: formulanone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons