ANSWERS WANTED IN GLENDALE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

Ana Spann braved a biting wind Saturday to seek answers at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Spann was among dozens who flooded phone lines at the hospital and the Glendale Police Department hoping to learn if their loved ones had ever been treated by Efren Saldivar, a respiratory therapist and self-described ``angel of death.''

Saldivar told Glendale police March 11 that he killed 40 to 50 patients during eight years, ending in August 1997, by cutting off their air supply or administering lethal injections, according to court records released Friday by the state Respiratory Care Board.

Saldivar was detained and questioned by police but released. He remains free pending what police said will be a lengthy investigation that could require exhuming the bodies of possible victims.

Occupants at Saldivar's Valaho Drive home in Tujunga refused to answer the door Saturday.

Spann and dozens of others wanted more immediate answers, however.

She said two calls to the Glendale hospital proved fruitless, so she traveled from Alta Loma in San Bernardino County to find out if her grandmother, who died of respiratory arrest at the hospital in January 1996, had been among the dozens of terminally ill patients that Saldivar claims to have euthanized.

``We thought her death was natural, but now I don't know,'' said Spann, 39. ``It's a scary feeling not knowing if she suffered or just died in her sleep.''

Hospital staff told her they would call her back in about 10 days, she said.

Hospital Chief Operating Officer David Nelson distributed a form letter Saturday to patients, recapping the confession and the resulting suspension of the entire respiratory care staff.

``We have taken every reasonable precaution to protect patients,'' said the letter, which told patients to call a hotline with any questions and concerns.

Hospital spokesman Mark Newmyer said no patients had checked out of the hospital because of the allegations.

Glendale police Sgt. Rick Young said hospital officials had wanted to go public with their suspicions in early March but bowed to police pressure and withheld the information as a task force of detectives, prosecutors and medical experts looked into the case.

``We understood the seriousness of the allegations, and we wanted to address it head on,'' Newmyer said. ``At that point, we felt we had isolated the problem.''

Young said disclosure of the court records has hampered the investigation his department began March 2 after being tipped off by hospital officials.

``It has blown a major hole in our investigation and put up road blocks all over,'' Young said. ``Now if there is another suspect out there it will be very difficult to identify them.''

State officials said the records became public when Saldivar's license was suspended for 30 days.

Two days after he talked to police, Saldivar was fired from the hospital and his medical license was suspended. State officials will move to revoke it at a hearing Tuesday.

Hospital officials, acting on a suggestion by police, later suspended three other respiratory care workers, Newmyer said.

On its own, the hospital took the precaution of suspending the 40 other members of its respiratory care department until the investigation is complete, he said. They have been replaced by respiratory care workers who have never worked at the hospital before. Some of the suspended workers contacted Saturday refused comment.

Young said the police department received more than 40 calls Saturday about the Saldivar case. Some were concerned because a relative had died sooner than expected at Glendale Adventist, he said. A San Diego man wanted to know if Saldivar had ever worked in that area.

Hospital officials first received a tip about Saldivar's alleged wrongdoing in April 1997 and conducted an investigation that turned up nothing suspicious. A second independent tip last month prompted the officials to take their concerns to police.

Investigators face a daunting task in verifying Saldivar's claims.

``A statement or confession by itself is no good without corroborating evidence,'' Young said.

Experts may have to pore over thousand of hospital records to determine which deaths merit further examination, Young said. Bodies may have to be exhumed to allow forensic and toxicology tests, he said.

Saldivar reportedly confessed to killing only those patients who were unconscious, looked like they were near death and had a ``do not resuscitate'' order.

Among other problems, Young said, it will be difficult to find traces of Pavulon and succinyl choline chloride, the paralyzing drugs Saldivar claims to have administered, or determine if someone stopped breathing naturally or not.

Spann shuddered at the thought of having to exhume her grandmother, Juana Sauza, who died at age 95 while being treated for pneumonia.

``They said she died because of her illness, and you never second guess a doctor,'' said Spann, who wanted answers from hospital officials before breaking the news to her mother, Ruth Rios.

``She took it well. She cried a little, but she's thinking positively and praying that (her mother) was not a victim.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Ana Spann stands outside Glendale Adventist Medical Center after asking if her grandmother's death there was a mercy killing.

E.J. Flynn/Associated Press

(2) Efren Saldivar

Confessed to killings