CEO of “health care terrorists” faces contempt charges after Senate no-show

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The CEO of a failed hospital system who was paid hundreds of millions of dollars while patients were allegedly "killed and maimed" in his resource-starved and rotting facilities, was a no-show at a Senate hearing on Thursday—despite a bipartisan subpoena compelling him to appear.

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CEO of failing hospital chain got $250M amid patient deaths, layoffs, bankruptcyLawyers for Ralph de la Torre—the Harvard University-trained cardiac surgeon who took over the Steward Health Care System in 2020—told senators in a letter last week that he was unable to testify at the hearing. Despite previously agreeing to the hearing, de la Torre and his lawyers argued that a federal court order stemming from Steward’s bankruptcy case, filed in May, prevented him from discussing anything amid reorganization and settlement efforts.

But that argument was found to be without merit by the Senate committee that issued the subpoena in July—the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), chaired by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). In comments to the Associated Press Wednesday, Sanders said there were plenty of topics he could have safely discussed.

“Tell me about your yacht”

"He has decided not to show up because he doesn't want to explain to the American people how horrific his greed has become," Sanders said. "Tell me about your yacht. Tell me about your fishing boat. I want to hear your justification for that. Tell that to the community where staff was laid off while you made $250 million."

On Thursday, lawmakers prepared a seat for de la Torre at the hearing, but it stayed empty.

In a statement to ABC News Thursday, Steward defended de la Torre’s absence. “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.”

Lawmakers, meanwhile, have moved forward with plans to pursue civil and criminal contempt of Congress charges. "A witness cannot disregard and evade a duly authorized subpoena,” ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said at today's 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 has scheduled a session on Thursday, September 19, to adopt the two resolutions.

While the star witness was AWOL, the hearing moved on, offering stunning and horrifying testimony from two Massachusetts nurses and Louisiana state leaders who experienced the conditions at Steward's hospitals, which number over 30 across eight states. The most heart-wrenching testimony came from Ellen MacInnis, a nurse at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, which was taken over by Steward.