Boy Pronounced Dead Discovered Alive During Funeral Home Prep

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Lifer
Jan 7, 2002
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Boy Pronounced Dead Discovered Alive During Funeral Home Prep

BOISE, Idaho -- A hospital worker preparing a drowned 2-year-old for a funeral home noticed the boy was breathing -- more than an hour after he had been pronounced dead.

Logan Pinto apparently wandered away from his baby sitter Thursday and fell into a canal near his home in Rexburg, about 275 miles east of Boise. He was submerged for nearly 30 minutes before police found him a half-mile downstream, said Rexburg police Capt. Randy Lewis.

Though an officer gave him CPR and emergency workers did everything they could to revive him, Lewis said, the boy was pronounced dead when it appeared the effort had failed. After giving the boy's mother and stepfather -- Debra and Joe Gould -- some time to say goodbye, Madison Memorial Hospital nurse Mary Zollinger began to prepare Logan's body for the funeral home.

But when she looked at the boy, she noticed his chest was slightly moving and realized that Logan was alive.

The boy was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, where he was listed in critical condition Friday. Late Thursday, he was breathing on his own and his color had returned, but he was placed back on a respirator Friday, Lewis said.

"I'm just amazed and overwhelmed with what took place," Lewis said. "They aggressively worked on him for quite a bit of time, and of course it's a bad situation when you have to let the parents know that their son has passed away."

But despair turned to joy when emergency workers learned the boy was alive.

"It's called divine intervention, I think. I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it hardly, especially after leaving there and seeing what had transpired," Lewis said. "I don't know how to explain it. It's joyous and relieving."

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.
 

Kilgor

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
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Kids are like that you can start and stop em wouldn't want to try it too often though.
 

Mo0o

Lifer
Jul 31, 2001
24,227
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Without oxygen for so long, will he be pretty much brain dead even though he is technically alive? Not much point if he will only be a vegetable. At such a young age its a damn shame.
 

Kilgor

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
3,292
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Originally posted by: Mo0o
Without oxygen for so long, will he be pretty much brain dead even though he is technically alive? Not much point if he will only be a vegetable. At such a young age its a damn shame.

Depending on how cold the water was he could have been under quite awile and still come out alright.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,745
17,286
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The boy is most likely either brain dead, or severely retarded now.

How sad. I hate to say it, but it probably would have been better if the funeral home never noticed.
 

911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
9,448
1
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I saw something like that in person.

Brought a patient into the ER and saw them working a full code on some woman. Went into the EMS room and wrote up my report, when it was done I walked back to the nurses station to turn it in and saw the drapes pulled and a sheet on the person. My partner and I talked to another crew for a few minutes and then went to leave. When we walked by the "dead" patient I grabbed my partner and said "Is that sheet moving? Looks like she is breathing"; sure enough she was.

Told the docs and they started working on her again. We got another call and never got back to that hospital to find out what happened but it was odd to say the least.
 

Murphy Durphy

Golden Member
Aug 12, 2003
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Originally posted by: Amused
The boy is most likely either brain dead, or severely retarded now.

How sad. I hate to say it, but it probably would have been better if the funeral home never noticed.
 

Mandos

Banned
May 20, 2004
1,478
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I think it's called terrible CPR people and such. Cant learn how to properly pronounce someone dead? I think they need to go back to school.
 

EngenZerO

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2001
5,099
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Originally posted by: Azraele
It's a wonder he survived. Hopefully he'll recover.

doubt it. he will recover, but probably not be the same due to the incident. its a damn shame, whats a joke is the cpr verifcation one goes through. I am verified from the hospital and the process was a joke. nurses and other techs were just cheating and treating it like a joke. they think cause the learned it once they will never forget it.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,916
2,156
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I actually got a tear in my eye when I read that yesterday. Imagine the grief of losing a kid, preparing yourself to live without your child, then suddenly the child is brought back to you. Wow.....
 

iliopsoas

Golden Member
Jul 14, 2001
1,844
2
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Originally posted by: Mandos
I think it's called terrible CPR people and such. Cant learn how to properly pronounce someone dead? I think they need to go back to school.

you're an idiot. Go read up on this stuff before you talk out of your ass.
 

iliopsoas

Golden Member
Jul 14, 2001
1,844
2
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This isn't so rare in drowning or hypothermic patients, especially kids. Some will have a full recovery after long periods without oxygen.
 

911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
9,448
1
76
"You are not dead until you are WARM and dead"

Words to live by in the EMS community. (no pun intended)