Hospital Rated Highly Despite ‘Angel of Death’

A hospital made infamous by a fired worker who claimed to be an “Angel of Death” scored 95 out of 100 in a recent independent review of, among other things, patient care, a spokeswoman announced Thursday.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center was given the rating following “an extensive, four-day review” by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, which conducts surveys at the request of hospitals nationwide, said spokeswoman Alicia Gonzalez.

“We believe this score accurately reflects the quality of care our patients receive, and we look forward to the final report on this outstanding achievement,” Robert G. Carmen, president and CEO of the hospital, said in a prepared statement.

The survey was conducted in May, in the midst of a police investigation into the activities of fired respiratory therapist Efren Saldivar, who police say confessed to killing as many as 50 terminally ill patients, but then later recanted on national TV. Saldivar has not been charged.

Because the report is not final, Julia Roberts, a spokeswoman for the accreditation commission, declined to discuss its findings.

Police are investigating a pool of several hundred cases in which Saldivar had contact with patients who died soon afterward. Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young said in an interview earlier this month that investigators may begin exhuming bodies in the case as soon as July. Young declined comment on Thursday.

In 1995, when Saldivar was still employed at the hospital and would have been in the midst of the purported killing spree, Glendale Adventist received a score of 88 on the survey, said Roberts, the spokeswoman for the accreditation group.

The commission accredits about 5,100 of the nation’s estimated 6,300 hospitals, Roberts said.

In 1995, 59% of the hospitals scored 90 or better on the survey. Thirty-six percent scored between 80 and 89, and 5% scored between 70 and 79, according to a commission report. No hospitals scored below 70, the report said.

A similar breakdown of scores for 1998 surveys will not be available until early next year, Roberts said.