Dr. Ralph de la Torre has reportedly resigned from his role as CEO of Steward Health Care and has filed a lawsuit against Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), as well as other committee members.
De la Torre is seeking legal relief for what he claims are ongoing violations of his constitutional rights, particularly those protected by the Fifth Amendment. The lawsuit, filed on September 30 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges the validity of a July 25 subpoena that required his appearance before the HELP committee. He argues that the subpoena, along with all subsequent actions, should be declared invalid and unconstitutional.
According to the lawsuit, members of the HELP Committee targeted de la Torre after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The complaint states that the committee embarked on an effort to punish him for exercising this right.
The lawsuit also contends that following Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy announcement, members of the committee unfairly portrayed de la Torre as the villain, blaming him for the company’s struggles, which, the complaint argues, were partly due to systemic issues within Massachusetts’ healthcare system.
Steward Health Care, which operates around 30 hospitals across the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 6. On July 25, the HELP Committee issued a subpoena, requiring de la Torre to appear on September 12 to testify about the bankruptcy and the impact of the health system’s financial management on patient care.
The lawsuit claims that the hearing was used as a platform to attack de la Torre with the intention of publicly humiliating him. In response to what the complaint described as a fierce campaign by members of Congress to vilify him, de la Torre invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. On September 19, the HELP Committee passed a Contempt Resolution against de la Torre.
In a statement, de la Torre’s attorney, William A. Burck, defended his client’s decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, asserting that no branch of government has the authority to strip those rights from de la Torre as he faces criminal accusations from the committee. Burck emphasized that no individual can be forced to testify under such circumstances.
De la Torre founded Steward Health Care in 2010 in Massachusetts as part of an acquisition deal with Cerberus Capital Management, which took over the nonprofit Caritas Christi Health Care system. Steward and Cerberus provided Caritas Christi with a much-needed financial boost, and the company eventually expanded nationwide.
The lawsuit attributes some of Steward Health Care’s financial difficulties, including its bankruptcy, to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s plan to sell its 30 hospitals across eight states has been delayed, and two hospitals in Massachusetts have already closed.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, in response to the bankruptcy, attributed the health system’s $9 billion debt to what he called “private equity vultures,” and he labeled de la Torre as a prime example of corporate greed within the for-profit healthcare industry.
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