Toddler declared dead after drowning in pool ‘came back to life’ hours later

A toddler declared dead after drowning in their family pool shocked medics by ‘coming back to life’ hours later.

The child was pulled from the water in his back garden in Gilbert Arizona, at around 5.35pm on February 8.

While nearly 140 million people watch the Super Bowl, medics desperately fought to revive the youngster, whose identity has remained private.

The child was rushed to hospital, but the family was told nothing more could be done, and they were declared dead at 6.20pm.

But in a miraculous turn of events, police were called again when the child began showing signs of life, according to KTAR News.

They were airlifted to another hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, police said.

An investigation is ongoing.

Emergency physician Dr Frank LoVecchio told AZFamily that medics need to be ‘overly sensitive’ when declaring a patient dead.

Dr LoVecchio, who did not treat the child personally, said of the reported case: ‘I guess anything’s possible, but it doesn’t sound probable.’

He suggested that perhaps the child had been very cold when they were pulled from the water, making the pulse more faint and harder to detect.

The doctor added: ‘If you’re overly sensitive, it’s when you’re pronouncing a child dead. You want to be absolutely sure — make sure the temperature was adequate, that there is no heartbeat, no movement, no blood pressure.

‘So, I think something’s missing from the story.’

Drowning is the number one cause of death in children ages one to four in the US. It is also a leading cause of death – after car accidents – in children aged five to 14.

Around 4,000 fatal drownings happen each year – an average of 11 per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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