`ANGEL OF DEATH' FAILS TO FIGHT FOR OWN JOB.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

The respiratory care therapist who police say confessed to 40 to 50 mercy killings failed to show up to defend himself at a hearing Tuesday, prompting a judge to agree to suspend his work license for 30 more days.

In Efren Saldivar's absence, a state prosecutor vowed to take steps to revoke his license for three years by filing a formal accusation against the 28-year-old, who reportedly told police he considered himself an ``angel of death.''

``Saldivar has so violated the public trust that only a continuation of the suspension will provide some semblance of confidence in the health care field,'' said Gloria Barrios, deputy California attorney general in Los Angeles. ``The result must be a complete shutdown of his health care license.''

At Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where Saldivar worked until March 13, officials Tuesday faced additional scrutiny after reports surfaced that the hospital had been cited for failing to lock up medications properly.

But a hospital spokesman said a Saldivar, who police say admitted to killing terminally ill patients with injections or by cutting their fresh oxygen supply, was unrelated to incidents mentioned in the 1997 Los Angeles County Department of Health Services survey, which faulted the hospital's skilled nursing facility for improper drug storage.

``The situation in question with the individual in question is totally unrelated (to the 1997 survey),'' said hospital spokesman Mark Newmyer.

In 1995, regulators performing a federal survey of the entire facility found a syringe containing four milligrams of morphine sulfate resting on a counter in an unattended recovery room, according to documents.

But Newmyer said that citation was perhaps unwarranted as a nurse had set the syringe down only momentarily and planned to dispose of it. Glendale Adventist was preparing responses to other citations involving the handling of drugs, Newmyer said.

In downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, administrative Law Judge David B. Rosenman granted the interim suspension of Saldivar's license after waiting in vain an extra 30 minutes for Saldivar to make an appearance.

The nine-member Respiratory Care Board in Sacramento could later move simply to revoke the license by default, said Cathleen McCoy, the board's executive officer.

But Saldivar faces potentially far worse if police are successful in building a murder case against the Tujunga resident.

Glendale police continued Tuesday to gather leads in their case against Saldivar, saying they have received calls from relatives of about 36 different people who died at Glendale Adventist.

But Sgt. Rick Young of Glendale Police Department cautioned that the names do not constitute a list of victims and are merely starting points for investigators to begin examining whether there was any foul play involved in those deaths.

``None of these callers are saying their relatives were murdered,'' Young said.

After suspending with pay its entire 40-person respiratory care staff, Glendale Adventist cleared six more of these therapists to come back to work Tuesday, bringing the total number back on the job to 28 so far.

Daily News Staff Writers Lee Condon, Sherry Joe Crosby and Deborah Sullivan contributed to this story.

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PHOTO Cathleen McCoy

Says license could go