Senators to pursue contempt charges against Steward Health CEO

A bipartisan group of senators will pursue contempt of Congress charges against Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre after he defied a subpoena and failed to attend a Senate hearing Thursday. 

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee — said de la Torre needs to answer questions about how Steward managed its hospitals, as well as how he was able to reap millions of dollars even as the system was failing.

“A witness cannot disregard and evade a duly authorized subpoena,” Cassidy said at the hearing. “Therefore, today, the chair and I will be asking the committee to report a resolution to authorize civil enforcement and criminal contempt proceedings against Dr. de la Torre requiring compliance with the subpoena.” 

The committee will vote next week to adopt two resolutions: one for civil enforcement and another that would refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to criminally prosecute de la Torre for failing to comply with the subpoena.

If passed by the committee, both resolutions will be advanced to the full Senate for a vote. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor, and it could lead to fines or imprisonment. 

“We were hopeful that Dr. de la Torre would comply with our bipartisan subpoena and appear before the committee, to testify to the harm Steward has caused to patients, health care workers, and the communities in which they live. Unfortunately, he failed to appear,” Cassidy and Sanders said in a joint statement Thursday. “We have no choice but to move forward and pursue both civil enforcement of the subpoena and criminal charges against Dr. de la Torre.” 

The HELP committee in July issued a subpoena to compel de la Torre to testify about the failure of Steward Health Care. The committee voted on a strong bipartisan basis, 16-4, to authorize the subpoena — the first issued by the panel in decades.

De la Torre last week told the committee he wouldn’t participate in Thursday’s hearing while Steward was still in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings and asked for the hearing to be postponed. Steward filed for bankruptcy in May and has been trying to sell all 30 of its hospitals across eight states. 

Lawmakers refused to postpone the hearing and told de la Torre he was expected to show. 

Instead of having a chance to grill de la Torre during Thursday’s hearing, senators heard from nurses at two Steward hospitals in Massachusetts who talked about the impact of corporate ownership on patients, including dangerous levels of understaffing.  

They also heard from two local Louisiana politicians who testified about how Steward mismanaged hospitals in their area. 

In a statement ahead of the hearing, a spokesperson for de la Torre reiterated his position that it would be “wholly inappropriate for him to testify on matters related to Steward’s bankruptcy while those proceedings are ongoing.”   

“The Committee continues to ignore the fact that there is an ongoing settlement effort underway with all interested parties that paves the way to keep all of Steward’s remaining hospitals open and preserve jobs,” the statement said. “Dr. de la Torre cannot testify or otherwise publicly comment so as not to interfere with this process. Dr. de la Torre will not do anything that could jeopardize this effort.” 

Steward took over a failing hospital system run by the Archdiocese of Boston in 2010, and — backed by private equity company Cerberus Capital Management — converted it into for-profit institutions. Cerberus sold the real estate that the hospitals were built on to fund debt-fueled purchases of hospitals across the country.   

De la Torre turned Steward into the country’s largest for-profit health system. The owners paid themselves millions in dividends and Cerberus exited its ownership agreement with $800 million profit.

Meanwhile, the hospitals were reportedly starved for resources, to the point where bills weren’t being paid and medical instruments were being repossessed. 

Sanders on Thursday pledged that the committee will continue its work investigating Steward and de la Torre. 

“This is not the last discussion of this, and if Dr. de la Torre thinks he is comfortable by not being here today: Dr. De la Torre, if you’re watching, you’re wrong. This will be pursued.”