LOS ANGELES?A former respiratory therapist who once called himself the “Angel of Death” was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for killing six elderly patients with drug injections.

In addition to six life terms, Superior Court Judge Lance Ito gave Saldivar wo 15 years to life for the attempted murder of Jean Coyle, who appeared in court and told how she was almost killed by a drug injected into her intravenous tube.

Saldivar pleaded guilty March 12 under a deal with prosecutors that spared him the possibility of the death penalty.

He admitted killing the patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center in 1996 and 1997 by injecting them with the muscle relaxant Pavulon to stop their breathing.

Saldivar was charged in January 2001 after authorities exhumed 20 bodies and found Pavulon in the remains of the six victims, ages 75 to 87.