The Senate Health Committee will hold a hearing on the for-profit bankruptcy of Steward Health Care, which is depriving patients of care, with CEO Ralph de la Torre refusing to testify.
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Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he is prepared to file contempt of court charges against Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre if he fails to appear at a hearing on Thursday despite a subpoena.
Sanders said de la Torre must answer to the American people for how he managed to make hundreds of millions of dollars while Steward Health Care, which operates about 30 hospitals across the country, was forced to file for bankruptcy in May.
“This is something that is not going to go away,” Sanders told the Associated Press. “We will continue to doggedly pursue it.”
Steward has sought to sell more than a half-dozen of its Massachusetts hospitals but has received insufficient offers for two others — Carney Hospital in Boston and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer — that have closed as a result. A federal bankruptcy court approved the sale of Steward’s other Massachusetts hospitals last week.
“He chose not to appear because he doesn’t want to explain to the American people how appalling his greed has become,” Sanders said. “Tell me about your yacht. Tell me about your fishing boat. I want to hear your reasoning. Tell that to the community where you made $250 million while they laid off workers.”
Sanders said finding de la Torre in contempt of court would require a vote of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which he chairs, or — depending on the action it takes — a vote of the full Senate.
De la Torre’s attorneys said he will not testify before the commission investigating the Dallas-based hospital company because a federal court order prohibits him from discussing any issues during the ongoing reorganization and settlement efforts.
Sanders said de la Torre still has many questions he can answer.
De la Torre’s lawyers also accused the commission of trying to turn the hearing into a “pseudo-criminal proceeding in which time was used not to gather facts but to convict Dr. de la Torre in the eyes of the public.”
“It is not within the purview of this committee to adjudicate alleged wrongdoing in the investigation into Stewart’s bankruptcy proceedings, and the fact that its members have already done so demonstrates a covert attempt to circumvent Dr. de la Torre’s constitutional rights,” the lawyers said in a letter to Sanders last week.
De la Torre did not rule out testifying before the committee at a later date — a suggestion Sanders described as “100% a delaying tactic.”
Sanders also said the committee has received no indication that de la Torre would change his mind and attend Thursday’s hearing, where testimony will also include nurses who work at two Stewart-owned hospitals in Massachusetts.
“We have a guy who is becoming fabulously wealthy while bankrupting hospitals and denying low- and moderate-income people the health care they so desperately need,” Sanders said. He said more than a dozen patients have died at Stewart hospitals because of understaffing or equipment shortages.
“When a hospital closes in a community, especially a low-income community, it’s a disaster. Where do people go? Where’s the closest emergency room?” Sanders added.
The committee’s options include holding de la Torre criminally liable for contempt of court, which could result in a trial and prison time; or civil contempt of court, which would result in fines pending an appearance. Both options would require a Senate vote.
De la Torre also declined an invitation to testify at a field hearing in Boston earlier this year chaired by Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and also a member of the committee.
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