Sanders vows to carry Steward Well being CEO in contempt amid subpoena over chapter

Sanders stated de la Torre must reply to the American folks about how he was in a position to reap a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} whereas Steward Well being Care, which operated about 30 hospitals nationwide, needed to file for chapter in Might.

“That is one thing that’s not going to go away,” Sanders informed The Related Press. “We are going to pursue this doggedly.”

Steward has been working to promote its greater than a half-dozen hospitals in Massachusetts, however acquired insufficient bids for 2 different hospitals — Carney Hospital in Boston and Nashoba Valley Medical Heart within the city of Ayer — each of which have closed in consequence. A federal chapter courtroom final week authorised the sale of Steward’s different Massachusetts hospitals.

“He has determined to not present up as a result of he doesn’t wish to clarify to the American folks how horrific his greed has develop into,” Sanders stated. “Inform me about your yacht. Inform me about your fishing boat. I wish to hear your justification for that. Inform that to the group the place employees was laid off when you made $250 million.”

Sanders stated that to carry de la Torre in contempt would require a vote by the Senate Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee, which he chairs, or — relying on what motion they take — a vote of the total Senate.

Legal professionals de la Torre have stated that he received’t testify earlier than the committee investigating the Dallas-based hospital firm as a result of a federal courtroom order prohibits him from discussing something throughout an ongoing reorganization and settlement effort.

Sanders stated there are many questions de la Torre may nonetheless tackle.

Legal professionals for de la Torre additionally accused the committee of searching for to show the listening to into “a pseudo-criminal continuing during which they use the time, to not collect details, however to convict Dr. de la Torre within the eyes of public opinion.”

“It’s not inside this Committee’s purview to make predeterminations of alleged prison misconduct below the auspices of an examination into Steward’s chapter proceedings, and the truth that its Members have already carried out so smacks of a veiled try to sidestep Dr. de la Torre’s constitutional rights,” the legal professionals stated in a letter to Sanders final week.

De la Torre hasn’t dominated out testifying earlier than the committee at a later date — a suggestion Sanders described as “100% a delaying tactic.”

Sanders additionally stated the committee has acquired no indication that de la Torre will change his thoughts and attend Thursday’s listening to, which can even embody testimony from nurses who labored at two of the hospitals owned by Steward in Massachusetts.

“You’ve a man changing into fabulously rich whereas bankrupting hospitals and denying low revenue and center revenue of us the well being care they so desperately want,” Sanders stated. He stated that greater than a dozen sufferers have died in Steward hospitals on account of insufficient staffing or shortages of medical gear.

“When a hospital shuts down in a group, particularly a low-income group, it’s a catastrophe. The place do folks go? The place’s the closest emergency room?” Sanders added.

The committee’s choices embody holding de la Torre in prison contempt, which may end in a trial and jail time; or civil contempt, which might end in fines till he seems. Each would require a Senate vote.

De la Torre additionally refused invites to testify at a Boston discipline listening to earlier this 12 months chaired by Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts and in addition a member of the committee.