WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Boston Globe has reported that Steward Health CEO Ralph de la Torre is refusing to show up to testify at a September 12 Senate hearing regarding Steward Health's ongoing bankruptcy issues and hospital closures.

According to The Boston Globe, de la Torre said his testimony would be "wholly inappropriate" at this time. The Globe also reports a letter was sent to Senator Bernie Sanders by de la Torre's attorney saying he is prohibited by Steward from discussing the company's bankruptcy.

Following this development, Senator Sanders, who is the Chair of the Senates Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a statement saying while he's disappointed, he's not surprised.

"I am disappointed, but not surprised, that Dr. Ralph de la Torre, the CEO of Steward Health Care, who has made hundreds of millions of dollars ripping off patients and health care providers, is refusing to testify in the HELP Committee in defiance of a subpoena."

"Perhaps more than anyone else in America, Dr. de la Torre is the poster child for the type of outrageous corporate greed that is permeating through our for-profit health care system. Working with private equity vultures, he became obscenely wealthy by loading up hospitals across the country with billions in debt and selling the land underneath these hospitals to real estate executives who charge unsustainably high rent. As a result, Steward Health Care, and the more than 30 hospitals it owns in eight states, were forced to declare bankruptcy with some $9 billion in debt."

"I am now working with members of the HELP Committee to determine the best path forward. But let me be clear: We will not accept this postponement. Congress will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America. This Committee intends to move forward aggressively to compel Dr. de la Torre to testify to the gross mismanagement of Steward Health Care. It is time for Dr. de la Torre to get off of his $40 million yacht and explain to the American people how much he has gained financially while bankrupting the hospitals he manages."

Meanwhile, Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren also released a joint statement calling de la Torre "cowardly as he is cruel."

“Dr. de la Torre’s defiance of a subpoena to appear before the Senate is outrageous. He got rich as private equity and real estate vultures picked apart, and drove into bankruptcy, hospitals that employed thousands of health care workers who served communities in Massachusetts and across the country."

"De la Torre used hospitals as his personal piggy bank and lived in luxury while gutting Steward hospitals. De la Torre is as cowardly as he is cruel. He owes the public and Congress answers for his appalling greed – and De la Torre must be held in contempt if he fails to appear before the Committee.”

The HELP Committee voted to subpoena de la Torre to testify at a September 12 hearing titled "Examining the Bankruptcy of Steward Health Care: How Management Decisions Have Impacted Patient Care" back in July of 2024.

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