Efren Saldivar

Gretchen Hoffman NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Efren Saldivar's guilty plea refocused attention on Glendale Adventist Medical Center, but hospital officials say community trust is still high. Saldivar pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murdering six patients and trying to kill a seventh while working as a respiratory therapist at Glendale Adventist in 1996 and 1997. He injected them with Pavulon, a drug that causes breathing to stop. As part of his plea to avoid the death penalty, the clock on the statute of limitations will start ticking anew: Victims' families have a year to file a civil suit.

Amber Willard LOS ANGELES -- A former respiratory therapist at a Glendale hospital pleaded not guilty Friday morning to charges that he killed six elderly patients by giving them fatal injections of a drug. Efren Saldivar, wearing a green cardigan and black pants given to him moments before by his attorney, was in the Los Angeles courtroom less than five minutes. His plea was entered by his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Verah Bradford, while Saldivar sat next to her, rocking slightly in his wooden seat.

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY Arlene Leytte and Syeda Fahmida don't much like the rain. The Holy Family High School freshman sought shelter from this week's big storm in a Brand Boulevard doorway while waiting for the bus after school. "It's horrible. She's wearing a skirt," Arlene said of her friend. "I'm dying," Syeda said. "One day it's all warm and stuff and the next day, it's raining." HOW TO TELL THEM APART City Council candidate Bob Yousefian said that over the years he's felt like he and Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg have a lot in common.

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- Prosecutors have said toxicology tests in the case against a former hospital worker show he killed six patients by giving them fatal injections. But the man's attorney in a handful of civil cases, one of which is expected to be officially dropped today, doubts the legal validity of the tests, as well as plans for criminal prosecution. "The district attorney's prosecution is based upon what we consider to be junk science," Terry Goldberg said of tests to trace the drug Pavulon in 20 suspected victims of Efren Saldivar.

Amber Willard NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- The investigation into a former hospital worker accused of killing patients topped the list of issues covered by Glendale Police at a meeting Wednesday. The worker, Efren Saldivar, was arrested earlier this month after a three-year investigation. Saldivar is charged with killing six patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center by giving them fatal injections of the drug Pavulon. Pavulon is used to stop breathing.

Amber Willard BURBANK -- A judge took on Friday what defense attorneys hope was a step toward dismissing a civil lawsuit against Efren Saldivar, a former hospital worker charged earlier this week in criminal court with allegedly causing the deaths of six patients. Judge Carl J. West told the attorney for the family of John Schwartz he has seen no evidence indicating wrongdoing by Saldivar or the Glendale hospital where he worked as a respiratory care therapist.

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- A co-worker at Glendale Adventist Medical Center gave Efren Saldivar a drug he allegedly used to stop the breathing of patients, the woman reportedly told investigators in 1998. Saldivar, 31, was charged last week in the deaths of six patients who prosecutors say were given lethal injections. In a 1998 interview with police, Saldivar allegedly said he injected 40 to 50 patients with drugs and contributed to the deaths of as many as 200 patients by not performing his job effectively.

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- Efren Saldivar, a former respiratory care therapist accused of killing six patients at a local hospital, allegedly told police he gave lethal injections only to those who were suffering. But doctors and nurses at Glendale Adventist Medical Center told investigators they were surprised when some of the now alleged victims died, because their conditions were improving. In each of the six victims, doctors found the drug Pavulon, which stops a person's breathing.

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- Doctors assigned to examining exhumed bodies in the case against a former hospital worker accused of poisoning patients started with a daunting task: the only protocol for such toxicology tests was from living people. "None of the principles, techniques or equipment used could be considered new or novel, although the application ... of extracting Pavulon from ... buried human tissue ... was not found in previously published scientific literature," Glendale Police Sgt. John McKillop wrote in a 1999 affidavit requesting medical records of patients.

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- A former hospital worker charged last week with giving patients lethal injections at a Glendale hospital allegedly told police he got the drug he used at another city hospital. Efren Saldivar also allegedly told Glendale Police -- in a recently released 1998 interview -- that although he did not lethally inject patients at the other hospital, he did allow them to die by not effectively performing measures like CPR. "... By law, we have to go through the procedures -- go through the steps.