Senators expected to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt
Lawmakers say they would seek to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress if he doesn't appear at a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill, senators from both parties told CBS News. De la Torre confirmed in a statement Thursday morning that he will not attend today's hearing.
"If someone shows contempt for the people of the United States by not coming to testify both to potentially clear his name, but also to give them insight, then that is a contemptible thing," said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the ranking Republican member of the Senate committee investigating Steward.
The company, which had owned more than three dozen hospitals across eight states, declared bankruptcy earlier this year and has been struggling to find buyers for its facilities. Last week, de la Torre's attorney wrote to the committee, saying his client would "not participate" in the hearing, asserting the testimony needed to be postponed until after Steward's bankruptcy proceedings were resolved.
The committee's chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, refused to postpone the hearing, where lawmakers will also hear from health care workers and local officials in communities impacted by Steward's bankruptcy.
For nearly two years, a CBS News investigation has documented how private equity investors and de la Torre extracted hundreds of millions of dollars while health care workers and patients struggled to get the life-saving supplies they needed. Last month, the company closed two Massachusetts hospitals, leaving about 1,200 workers jobless, according to the state.
The decision to compel de la Torre's testimony is extremely rare — the last subpoena issued by the committee occurred in the 1980s. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the committee, said he considers de la Torre to "a fugitive on the run,"
"If he doesn't show up, he's defying a legal order that he appear," Markey told CBS News. "Therefore he should be accountable and held in contempt," adding the committee will work on a bipartisan basis to determine whether de la Torre would face criminal or civil penalties for failing to appear.
In addition to congressional scrutiny, Steward is the subject of a criminal probe by the Department of Justice. A federal grand jury in Boston is examining the compensation, spending and travel of the company's top executives, including de la Torre, a person familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Through a spokesperson, de la Torre has denied wrongdoing.
"Dr. de la Torre did everything in his power to help Steward Health Care overcome numerous industry headwinds and challenges, including personally purchasing necessary equipment and supplies in order to address the needs of patients and personally guaranteeing loans for the company with his assets," the spokesperson said in a statement.
Markey said he isn't buying that explanation, and accused de la Torre, a former cardiac surgeon, of violating his Hippocratic oath.
"What Dr. de la Torre and private equity have perpetrated is something that is so heartless, so cruel, and so harmful to the most vulnerable people in our society," Markey said.
Louisiana is also home to a Steward hospital, and Cassidy, who is also a medical doctor, said he's been hearing disturbing stories from his constituents about supply shortages at the facility.
"It's been unable to pay its bills, and folks are being turned away," Cassidy said. "We're told at least one died awaiting transfer. Now, think about that. That doesn't sound like the United States of America.
Cassidy said he is committed to working across the aisle with Markey to address some of the financial maneuvers that allowed Steward's investors to profit as patient care suffered.
"Although he's a liberal Democrat and I'm a conservative Republican, we are united in how to make sure people get the health care they need," he said.