Steward Health Care CEO de la Torre may face contempt charges for ignoring subpoena

A day after a lawyer wrote that the CEO of Steward Health Care will not attend a congressional hearing next week despite being summoned, lawmakers said they are still dealing with a defamatory statement against the leader confused.

Sen. Ed Markey told reporters Thursday that he and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT, is gathering a bipartisan plan to vote with a defamatory statement against Ralph de la Torre, who they say is responsible for Steward’s failure.

Markey and Sanders, fierce critics of da la Torre, head the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which voted in July to launch a congressional investigation into what prompted Steward to give through bankruptcy protection last May.

That vote also included on-the-record testimony from de la Torre.

But on Wednesday, de la Torre’s attorney, Alexander J. Merton, wrote a letter to Sanders, highlighting how the CEO is prohibited from speaking on behalf of his company about “any matters related to collapse,” according to the federal court order.

An independent committee of Steward’s board of directors established last December has been assigned to discuss ongoing issues instead of de la Torre, Merton wrote.

The trial will be held next Thursday no matter what, Marky said. The vacant seat will appear to be de la Torre’s, continuing a pattern that began in April when de la Torre did not voluntarily testify at a senate committee meeting in Boston.

“We will have witnesses from the affected communities who will take the stand to testify,” Markey said. “This time not in the Massachusetts State House but in the United States Capitol so that his story can be told throughout our country.”

The HELP Committee can vote on the definition of criminal contempt against de la Torre which could lead to a trial and imprisonment or a civil charge that would result in financial penalties until he appears. Both would need Senate approval to move.

This has been a big week amid the Steward crisis that has plagued the Massachusetts health system all year.

A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved the Dallas-based health care company’s plan to sell its six Bay State hospitals — St. Anne’s in Fall River, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Holy Family Hospital facilities in Methuen and Haverhill, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and St. Elizabeth in Brighton.

Steward closed its other two Massachusetts facilities, Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, last Saturday.

“Unfortunately, while Dr. de la Torre continues to fight for Steward Hospitals and the patients and communities they serve,” Merton wrote in his letter to Sanders, “the members of this Committee are they continue to criticize Dr. de la Torre and they intend to change the trial in which they use the time, not to gather information, but to judge Dr. de la Torre in the eyes of the people.

US member Elizabeth Warren objected to the definition, especially the phrase “criminal activity”.

Speaking to reporters along with Markey and other leaders, Warren referred to a report earlier this week from the Globe Spotlight Team that uncovered several incidents in which de la Torre was allegedly involved in at Steward’s bank office on his behalf.

Other expenses include the CEO getting a million-dollar apartment and traveling on corporate jets to “far-flung vacation spots,” the Globe reported.

“It is possible that Mr. de la Torre’s robbery at Steward may have contributed to larger criminal activity, but that is no reason to ignore the warrant,” said Warren. “Congress has questions to ask, and if Mr. de la Torre believes the answers will put him at risk of going to jail, he can put the Fifth Amendment out there for all to see.”

Ellen MacInnis, a registered nurse at St. Elizabeth’s and a board member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, urged lawmakers to fulfill their pledge to hold de la Torre accountable.