WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT IN QUESTION JUDGE CALLS FOR EVIDENCE.

Byline: Donna Huffaker Staff Writer

BURBANK - A judge on Friday gave the plaintiff in one of a half-dozen wrongful death suits filed against Efren Saldivar another week to produce evidence the former hospital worker was linked to his client's death.

Depending on what attorney Christopher Nicoll submits to the court by Jan. 19, Judge Carl West is expected to rule on Jan. 26 whether to dismiss the wrongful-death lawsuit against Saldivar and Glendale Adventist Medical Center, court officials said.

Saldivar, who once proclaimed himself an "angel of death," was charged Wednesday with murdering six elderly patients in 1996 and 1997 while he was employed at the hospital as a respiratory care therapist. Authorities allege that Saldivar poisoned his victims with a muscle-paralyzing drug called Pavulon.

Nicoll represents the family of John N. Schwartz, a 91-year-old man who died at Glendale Adventist in 1993. Nicoll's suit claims Saldivar and Glendale Adventist are responsible for the death of the Alzheimer's patient.

But Schwartz was not one of the six victims identified by prosecutors Wednesday.

Nicoll could not be reached for comment Friday.

Saldivar's former civil attorney, Terry Goldberg, said Friday he filed a motion last month asking the judge to dismiss the case for lack of evidence.

Civil lawsuits have sprouted ever since Saldivar confessed to Glendale police he killed dozens of seriously ill patients at Glendale Adventist by injecting them with drugs and blocking the air in their breathing tubes. Saldivar told this to police in March 1998, then recanted the confession on national TV, saying he was depressed and made up the story so the state would give him a death sentence.

If convicted of the multiple murders, Saldivar could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Prosecutors will make that decision after Saldivar's preliminary hearing.

Goldberg, who along with Nicoll has not been allowed to see any of the investigators' evidence, said there is no proof of any wrongdoing or anything that connects Saldivar to Schwartz. Deputy public defender Jeffrey Treloar, not Goldberg, is defending Saldivar in the criminal matter.

Goldberg and attorneys for the hospital both asked West to review declarations by doctors that said Schwartz died of natural causes and that no mistreatment or misdeeds are reflected in the medical records.

West is expected to rule on Jan. 26, the same day Saldivar will be arraigned in downtown L.A. on the murder charges. He is being held without bail at Los Angeles County Jail.

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Photo:

Efren Saldivar

Former hospital worker