DOCTOR KILLED IN CAR CRASH WAS POPULAR ANESTHESIOLOGIST.

Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer

Dr. Ferdinand Adriatico was the life of the party at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center.

During the holidays, he would organize festivities for the staff, even throwing a separate party for his operating room nurses, always laughing and dancing.

``He always kept everyone's morale up,'' said Dr. Mugureich Balabanian, the hospital's chief of staff, who knew Adriatico for 25 years. ``He was always laughing. He was fun to be around and very approachable.

Adriatico, the chief of anesthesiology at Holy Cross, died Monday when his Mercedes-Benz was struck by a Ford Explorer that drifted into oncoming traffic. Danielle Marella, a 42-year-old nurse from Canoga Park, is expected to be charged with vehicular manslaughter for her role in the crash, police said Tuesday.

``Everybody is very, very shocked with this news,'' Balabanian said. ``They're going to miss not only a good physician, but a great guy.''

Adriatico, 59, graduated from the medical school at University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines in 1970. He received his California physician's license in 1978 and began working at Providence Holy Cross soon after.

He was certified in anesthesiology and pain management. Away from the hospital, he was an amateur landscaper and architect and collected stamps, Balabanian said.

Adriatico was traveling east on Roscoe Boulevard just after 3 p.m. Monday in his silver Mercedes. Marella, a case management nurse at Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center, was driving west, rushing to pick up her teenage daughter at El Camino Real High School, said one of her family members, who did not want to give his name.

Marella, driving a 2003 Explorer, crossed a double-yellow line to pass a Honda sport-utility vehicle, witnesses told police. She returned to the westbound lane after passing the Honda, but then drifted back into the eastbound lane and collided with Adriatico's Mercedes, LAPD Detective Jim Mann said.

Adriatico was pronounced dead at the scene. Marella suffered a broken hip and leg, and paramedics smelled alcohol on her breath, police said. Detectives were still awaiting her blood-alcohol level from the hospital Tuesday, Mann said.

``She's in a lot of pain,'' said the family member. ``She really didn't know what took place. The police told her she crossed the line and hit the Mercedes, after they put her under arrest.''

Marella, who has two teenage daughters, will likely be charged with gross vehicular manslaughter, Mann said.

``People need to slow down,'' he said. ``You'll get there the same time. That's all we want - people to slow down and start paying more attention to driving.''

Josh Kleinbaum, [phone]

josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com