'Drowned' toddler revives after 40 minutes

A TODDLER fell into a pool and started breathing again 40 minutes after she was declared dead, doctors in Orange, California, said.

It was unclear whether 22-month-old Mackayala Jespersen could see or hear and she probably suffered severe brain injury.

Dr Troy McGuire, who is treating the child, said: “The fact that Mackayala is still alive defies medical logic.”

The child was found floating face down in her family’s swimming pool and rushed to Anaheim Memorial Medical Centre, where doctors pronounced her dead. About 40 minutes later, a detective conducting a routine investigation into the death when he noticed her chest was moving. He summoned doctors, who were able to revive her.

The case has baffled hospital and emergency workers who had struggled to revive her. Doctors said Mackayala can make sounds but cannot speak and needs a feeding tube.

Dr McGuire said she could be transferred to a rehabilitation facility within two weeks and go home within a month. “Through the grace of God, many have called the fact that my daughter’s survival against all odds a miracle,” her father, Gabriel Jespersen, said, The Medical Board of California has launched an inquiry into whether physician error played a role.