As the head of the failed Steward Health Care refuses to comply with a subpoena to testify before a congressional committee, Sen. Edward J. Markey is calling for Ralph de la Torre to be held in contempt of Congress, be fired as Steward CEO and lose his medical degree.
At a press conference, Markey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Lori Trahan and labor leaders from 1199 SEIU and Massachusetts Nurses Association responded to de la Torre’s plans to skip a Sept. 12 Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee meeting. HELP Chair Bernie Sanders and bipartisan colleagues voted July 25 to subpoena de la Torre to testify at a meeting titled “Examining the Bankruptcy of Steward Health Care: How Management Decisions Have Impacted Patient Care.” It was the first time the Senate HELP Committee issued a subpoena since 1981.
“Ralph de la Torre has shown contempt for our health care system and now the United States Senate must bring contempt charges against Ralph de la Torre. This means the Senate’s HELP Committee must vote to hold de la Torre in criminal or civil contempt or both, and then the full Senate must vote to refer this recommendation to haul de la Torre in court,” Markey said.
The senator called for other actions.
“You should be held in contempt if you fail to appear. You should be fired from your position as CEO. You should lose your medical degree and the millions you made off with Steward should go back to repairing the health care system which you broke,” he added.
Warren called for an investigation of de la Torre for “possible criminal activities” and urged passage of her Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act to “make sure that the next set of greedy private equity firms and health care executives can’t inflict the same damage.”
Trahan said Steward “devastated essential hospitals like Nashoba Valley Medical Center and Holy Family Hospitals.” She added she remains “committed to restoring access to healthcare for all impacted communities, ensuring accountability for Steward executives’ reckless actions and enacting federal legislation to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Meanwhile, the state says it is committing at least another $417 million more over three years to help keep open hospitals, such as Holy Family Hospital campuses in Methuen and Haverhill. The state commitments now total $489 million.