State Revokes License of Man in Alleged Hospital Deaths

As expected, a state board Thursday revoked the license of respiratory care therapist Efren Saldivar, the former Glendale Adventist Hospital worker who allegedly confessed to killing dozens of patients, then recanted.

Though the 28-year-old Tujunga man has not been charged with any crime, Respiratory Care Board officials said they took away Saldivar’s license because his statements--true or not--were too serious a breach of professional conduct to ignore.

“Everyone who had a relative or friend under his care is now thrown into an awfully difficult time wondering what happened,” said Jay Van Rein, a spokesman with the state Department of Consumer Affairs. “Any licensee who allows his action to cause that kind of concern--is obviously calling his fitness to serve into question.”

Officials initially suspended Saldivar’s license March 13 after police said Saldivar confessed to killing 40 to 50 patients under his care. Saldivar told police he considered himself an “angel of death” and carefully selected victims that he would suffocate or inject with fatal doses of medicine.

Saldivar later retracted the confession during two television interviews, saying he was suicidal and under the influence of medication when he made it.

Medical board officials said Saldivar never attempted to defend himself against the charges against him. Telephone calls to his home were not returned Thursday.

Glendale Adventist, which had investigated Saldivar on similar allegations a year earlier, fired him and four of his colleagues when the new allegations surfaced.

Van Rein said Saldivar would be able to reapply for a respiratory care license in three years. He also said a national respiratory care group has been notified of the revocation of Saldivar’s license to ensure Saldivar doesn’t apply for a license in another state.