Efren Saldivar

Amber Willard BURBANK -- Another civil case against a former hospital worker accused of giving lethal injections to elderly patients was dropped Friday. Three remaining civil cases against Efren Saldivar and Glendale Adventist Medical Center will stay in Burbank Superior Court, a judge there ordered Friday morning. The plaintiffs' attorneys had asked they be transferred to the Central Civil West building in Los Angeles, an attorney said. "I see no reason to send it down there," Judge Carl West told attorneys.

Amber Willard LOS ANGELES -- Efren Saldivar, a former Glendale hospital employee accused of giving fatal drug injections to elderly patients, could face a preliminary hearing dramatically longer than most trials. Saldivar, who worked as a respiratory therapist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, is charged with six patient deaths. He was in a downtown court Friday to set the date for the hearing in which the evidence against him will be presented to a judge.

Gretchen Hoffman GLENDALE -- Now that transcripts from the Efren Saldivar mass murder case are public record, state Respiratory Care Board officials are trying to take punitive actions against four hospital employees who worked with him. Officials at Glendale Adventist Medical Center say it's about time. Saldivar was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing six patients while working at Glendale Adventist. Some of his co-workers testified they knew he was doing it. "We are very disappointed that the respiratory board did not take action much sooner, with so much information out there and this being four years after Efren's initial confession," hospital spokesman Mark Newmyer said.

Darleene Barrientos A Burbank judge reportedly approved a $20-million settlement Thursday in a wrongful-death civil lawsuit against Efren Saldivar, a respiratory therapist in Glendale who confessed to killing patients by drugging them. The families of Salbi Asatryan, Myrtle Brower, Balbino Castro and Jean Coyle will each receive $4.75 million, bringing the total to $19 million. With expected interest, the judgment will total $20 million. Judge Michael S. Mink signed the agreement between attorneys for Saldivar and the relatives of the four victims.

No one would disagree that investigating whether a respiratory therapist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center murdered 50 terminally ill patients is worth the cost. But the growing size of tab, which could end up leaving Glendale taxpayers with a bill for as much as $500,000, demands sensitivity by police and city officials. Almost two years ago - in a confession he later recanted - Efren Saldivar told authorities how, between 1989 and 1997, he practiced euthanasia along with respiratory therapy on 40 to 50 patients at the hospital.

Buck Wargo GLENDALE -- Glendale officials are going to court today to prevent details of the "angel of death" murder investigation from being released to the media and attorneys involved in a civil lawsuit. City Atty. Scott Howard said Thursday the city will seek an order from Superior Court Judge Carl West in Burbank, allowing the sealing of documents filed by the city in the Efren Saldivar investigation. Saldivar is the former respiratory therapist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center who confessed to killing up to 50 terminally ill patients.

Gretchen Hoffman LOS ANGELES -- Five years ago, Efren Saldivar injected a drug into Jean Coyle's intravenous lines while she was a patient at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Today, she sits in a wheelchair and breathes through a tube -- conditions she blames on the former respiratory therapist. Saldivar, 32, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years to life for trying to kill Coyle, and to six consecutive terms of life without parole for killing six other patients.

Gretchen Hoffman GLENDALE -- Efren Saldivar's co-workers knew he was killing patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, and the former respiratory therapist even joked about it at work, according to grand jury testimony by two hospital workers. The grand jury transcripts were unsealed Wednesday. Saldivar was sentenced Wednesday to six consecutive life terms for killing six patients and 15 years to life for trying to kill a seventh at Glendale Adventist in 1996 and 1997.

Gretchen Hoffman GLENDALE -- A year ago today, Glendale Police arrested Efren Saldivar on suspicion of killing six patients while working at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. For prosecutors in the case, it has been an uphill battle. The arrest came after a nearly three-year investigation of the former respiratory therapist, who was initially arrested in 1998 and confessed to police that he killed as many as 50 patients. He was released two days later due to a lack of corroborating evidence, and he later recanted his confession.

Gretchen Hoffman GLENDALE -- Pursuing potential disciplinary action against convicted killer Efren Saldivar's hospital co-workers continues to be one of the Respiratory Care Board of California's highest priorities, officials said. That investigation will kick into high gear once again next month, when grand jury transcripts are released following the April 17 sentencing of the former respiratory therapist. Saldivar, 32, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering six elderly patients while working at Glendale Adventist Medical Center in 1996 and 1997.