The full Senate voted unanimously during a Sept. 25 hearing to hold Dallas-based Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre, MD, in contempt. This is the first time since 1971 that the Senate has held someone in criminal contempt.
The vote comes after the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted Sept. 19 to push two resolutions regarding contempt charges against Dr. de la Torre and Steward to the full Senate.
The criminal contempt resolution will now be referred to the Justice Department to criminally prosecute Dr. de la Torre for not complying with the subpoena, a spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders, the HELP committee chair, told Becker's.
The HELP committee also passed a resolution Sept. 19 for civil enforcement of the subpoena. Civil enforcement will require a separate report from the Senate's legal counsel to ensure Dr. de la Torre's compliance, the spokesperson said.
On Sept. 12, Dr. de la Torre skipped a bipartisan Senate committee hearing held by the HELP committee that he had been subpoenaed to attend.
Steward, a for profit health system, sought Chapter 11 protection May 6 and has been working to offload its 31 hospitals.
Dr. de la Torre has faced significant backlash over the last few months for his ownership of two multimillion dollar yachts and lavish vacations while Steward's hospitals struggle.
"Dr. de la Torre, you cannot use your millions to shield yourself from accountability to the American People," Sen. Ed Markey said during the Sept. 25 hearing.
A spokesperson for Dr. de la Torre told Becker's in a Sept. 25 statement that they are disappointed Mr. Sanders and the full Senate have "used a mechanism typical for uncontested situations to continue their violations of Dr. de la Torre's constitutional rights, particularly those protected under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
Dr. de la Torre invoked his Fifth Amendment right ahead of the Senate's vote. On Sept. 18, his attorney sent a letter to the HELP committee that reiterated he "lacks the authority to speak on behalf of Steward with respect to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and he is prohibited by a federal court order from doing so."
"Dr. de la Torre will not be intimidated by the Committee’s threat of prosecution merely for asserting his constitutional protections," the spokesperson said. "The U.S. Constitution stands above the government to protect all Americans from precisely the kind of assault on our rights that we are witnessing here."
Editor's note: This story was updated Sept. 26 at 8:22 a.m. CT.