Family of toddler found alive in hospital morgue to file lawsuit: ‘I just want justice for my son’

( NewsNation ) — An Arizona woman is sharing the story of how her toddler son was pronounced dead at the hospital early this year only to be found, hours later, stirring beneath a sheet in the morgue.

Eighteen-month-old Vincent Fiordilino was found unresponsive in a swimming pool on Feb. 8 and rushed to Dignity Health Mercy Gilbert Medical Center in Gilbert. After attempting to revive the child, medical staff made the formal call to pronounce him dead, even though some observers insisted they saw signs of life, the boy’s mother, Alexus Fiordilino said.

“A nurse or a doctor said that it was just agonal breathing, which, is like, I guess, a death gurgle,” she said during an interview on NewsNation’s “Jesse Weber Live” on Wednesday. “Through the grief of it all, I kind of just accepted that answer.”

John Brewer, the family’s attorney, said a transporter for the county medical examiner’s office later came to retrieve the boy’s body from the hospital morgue and encountered an alarming sight.

“Underneath the thick sheet, all four extremities — his arms, his legs — are moving,” Brewer said. “He turns to the security guard and says, ‘That kid’s alive,’ and (the guard) said, ‘No, doctor says that’s normal.’”

Child found ‘slightly moving and slightly breathing’

The driver examined the child, the attorney said, and insisted that security call for a nurse.

Fiordilino said she and her husband then received the startling news from a police detective that the boy was “slightly moving and slightly breathing” and was being transported to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Alexus Fiordilino said Vincent has a hypoxic brain injury that will require lifelong medical care.

Mother to file lawsuit: ‘It just destroyed our lives’

Brewer said a lawsuit would be filed against the hospital next week, but did not specify who else could be named as defendants.

“It just destroyed our lives, and we came to them for help,” Fiordilino said. “I just want justice for my son. I want my son to have the best life that he could.”

An attorney for the physician who Brewer says mistakenly pronounced the child dead released a statement saying the doctor’s thoughts are with the Fiordilinos. The legal representative declined to discuss the actions at the hospital, citing pending litigation.

Maricopa County prosecutors said over the summer they would not file charges against the parents.

“Gilbert Police submitted a recommendation of charges of Child Abuse for both parents. In this case, the family had multiple childproof locks and safety measures in place, and multiple adults were present in the home, all of whom believed someone was watching the child. Additionally, the investigation found no evidence that the parents exhibited any obvious signs of impairment,” officials said.