BOSTON — Lawmakers will vote to hold former Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress next week after he refused to appear at a hearing on Capitol Hill where he was subpoenaed to testify about the company’s bankruptcy.
The Senate Committee on Healthcare, Education, Labor and Pensions was supposed to hear testimony from de la Torre on Thursday about his role in the financial meltdown of the Texas-based company, which is in the process of selling off its hospitals in Massachusetts and elsewhere. But he was a no-show at the hearing.
Members of the panel said they plan to hold de la Torre in civil and criminal contempt, a move that could lead to fines and even prison time for the heart surgeon who built Steward into the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain while siphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and his financial partners.
“He has decided not to show up because he doesn’t want to explain to the American people how horrific his greed has become,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT, the panel’s chairman, said in remarks during Thursday’s hearing. “Tell me about your yacht. Tell me about your fishing boat. I want to hear your justification for that.”
Sanders added, “Unfortunately, we have no choice but to move forward and pursue both civil enforcement of the subpoena and criminal charges against Dr. de la Torre.”
In a statement ahead of Thursday’s hearing, a de la Torre spokesperson defended his decision not to show up for the hearing, saying it would be “inappropriate” for him to testify about 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 will not do anything that could jeopardize this effort.”
De la Torre’s lawyers previously accused committee members of seeking to turn the hearing into “a pseudo-criminal proceeding in which they use the time, not to gather facts, but to convict Dr. de la Torre in the eyes of public opinion.”
But Sen. Ed Markey, a member of the committee, said he considers de la Torre to be “a fugitive on the run” and said the committee will force him to testify.
“He is using his blood-soaked gains to hide behind corporate lawyers, instead of responding to the committee’s demand for answers about how he could unleash such cruelty on the communities that he promised to serve,” Markey, a Malden Democrat, said at a press briefing following Thursday’s hearing. “The Senate and the American people deserve answers and accountability.”
Lawmakers heard testimony from two Massachusetts nurses, as well as elected officials from other states with Steward-owned hospitals. They talked about the company’s mismanagement of the health care system before it declared bankruptcy, and they heaped criticism on de la Torre and other top executives.
The Dallas-based Steward operated about 30 hospitals nationwide, including more than a half-dozen in Massachusetts, before it filed for bankruptcy protections earlier this year to pay down $9 billion in debt to its creditors.
Last week, a federal bankruptcy judge approved a plan to transfer ownership of several bankrupt Steward hospitals in Massachusetts, including Holy Family Hospital campuses in Haverhill and Methuen, which are being purchased by Lawrence General Hospital for an estimated $28 million.
The company closed its hospitals in Dorchester and Ayer at the end of August after failing to reach adequate terms with prospective buyers.
Steward is the target of a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. A federal grand jury in Boston is looking into the compensation, spending and travel of the company’s top executives, including de la Torre, according to published reports.
Steward’s management cited an increase in operating costs and insufficient federal government program reimbursement among the factors leading to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
But members of the congressional committee blame “greed and mismanagement” by de la Torre and Steward’s executive management team.
“They understaffed healthcare facilities. They didn’t pay for required medical equipment. They failed to meet minimum operating standards,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a former Massachusetts governor and member of the panel, said in remarks. “It’s hard to calculate how many lives have been seriously affected because of their mismanagement.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.