Saldivar lawsuit will have to wait

Buck Wargo

GLENDALE -- One of seven lawsuits filed against a former respiratory

therapist at Glendale Adventist Medical Center will have to wait.

Superior Court Judge Charles Stoll on Monday delayed any further

hearings in a lawsuit filed against Efren Saldivar by the wife of Elio

Palacios. Palacios, 29, a leukemia patient, died in February 1997.

Superior Court Judge Charles Stoll set a Nov. 9 hearing in the case

after Palacios’ attorney, Richard Ferko of Woodland Hills, said he does

not have autopsy results in the case.

Glendale Police are investigating whether Saldivar is responsible for

killing patients at the hospital. He confessed and later recanted to

killing up to 50 terminally ill patients.

Palacios was one of 20 bodies exhumed by police.

Burbank Superior Court Judge Carl West will decide in October whether

police have to release results of their investigation as requested by the

defense attorney in another lawsuit. That could affect the Palacios case.

As he did in June, Stoll suggested there are common issues in the

lawsuits that would make it worthwhile to consolidate them.

Saldivar’s lawyer, Terry Goldberg, has said he will oppose any

attempts to consolidate case because it would taint his client’s defense.