The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to hold Ralph de la Torre—the wealthy CEO of a now-bankrupt Steward hospital chain—in contempt for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
With the vote, the case is referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress, which would have de la Torre facing a fine of up to $100,000 and a prison sentence of up to 12 months if convicted.
The subpoena de la Torre rejected was a rare one issued in July by the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). The HELP committee, chaired by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), aimed to compel de la Torre to testify on allegations that while he and other executives reaped millions from the hospital system, individual facilities were put under such dire financial strain that health care workers were forced to practice “third-world medicine,” and outsiders described Steward leadership as “healthcare terrorists.”
“We wanted Dr. de la Torre to explain to us how it could happen that at least 15 patients at hospitals owned by his company died as a result of a lack of medical equipment or staffing shortages and why at least 2,000 other patients were put in ‘immediate peril’ according to federal regulators,” Sanders said in prepared remarks prior to Wednesday’s full Senate vote. Steward has operated more than 30 hospitals across eight states.
“But, perhaps most importantly,” Sanders said, the committee wanted to know how “Dr. de la Torre and the companies he owned were able to receive at least $250 million in total compensation over the past four years,” while health care workers, patients, and communities suffered. Some Steward hospitals have downsized or been shuttered, leading to hundreds of layoffs and a lack of access to medical care in affected communities.
De la Torre had initially agreed to testify before the committee in a hearing earlier this month but pulled out in the week beforehand. He argued that it would violate a court order connected with Steward’s bankruptcy case that prevented him from speaking on certain topics. The HELP committee rejected that argument, but de la Torre was nevertheless a no-show. After the hearing, a lawyer for de la Torre argued that testifying at the hearing would have violated his Fifth Amendment rights.
The lawyer, Alexander Merton, further called the Senate hearing a “pseudo-criminal proceeding with the goal of convicting Dr. de la Torre in a court of public opinion,” according to The Washington Post.
Prior to yesterday’s vote, Sanders vowed, “If you defy a Congressional subpoena, you will be held accountable no matter who you are or how well-connected you may be.”
