CEO of “healthcare terrorist” sues senators after flouting Congressional charges

The infamous CEO of a failed hospital system is suing an entire Senate committee for being held in contempt of Congress on civil and criminal charges that were unanimously approved by the full Senate last week.

In the government’s lawsuit filed Monday, Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre said the senators were “dismayed by the behavior. [his] constitutional rights” as they tried to “pillory and impeach him as a despicable criminal” “on television.”

A Senate committee—the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—issued an unusual subpoena to de la Torre in July, forcing him to to testify before the legislators. They wanted to ask the CEO about the collapse of the hospital system, which previously included more than 30 hospitals across eight states. Steward filed for bankruptcy in May.

Patients are at risk

The committee says that de la Torre and Steward’s managers reaped millions of personal profits by hiding the health centers, and selling the land out from under them. That mismanagement left them so financially burdened that one doctor at Steward Hospital in Louisiana said they were forced to practice “third-world medicine.” A state lawmaker who investigated conditions at the hospital described Steward’s management as “health care terrorists.”

Additionally, financial pressures on hospitals are believed to have led to the preventable deaths of 15 patients and put more than 2,000 other patients at “immediate risk.” As hospitals reduced services, closed wards, or closed altogether, hundreds of health care workers were laid off, and the public was left with no access to maintenance. Nurses who stayed in the makeshift facilities testified to dire conditions, including running out of basic equipment such as beds. At one hospital in Massachusetts, nurses were forced to put the remains of newborn babies in cardboard shipping boxes because Steward failed to pay the vendor for the death boxes.

Meanwhile, reports show de la Torre and his companies have been paid at least $250 million in recent years, and he bought a 190-foot yacht for $40 million. Steward also owned two private jets worth a combined $95 million.

Although de la Torre initially agreed to testify before the committee at the September 12 hearing, the wealthy CEO backed out a week earlier. He said that the federal court’s order related to the money laundering case prevented him from speaking on the matter; moreover, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid incrimination.

The HELP Committee rejected de la Torre’s arguments, saying there were still relevant topics he could safely discuss without violating the order and that his Fifth Amendment rights were not allowed him to refuse to appear before Congress when subpoenaed. However, the CEO was a no-show, and the Senate proceeded with contempt charges.

“That’s not how this works”

In the case presented today, de la Torre argues that the senators are trying to punish him for invoking his constitutional rights and that the case “was a tool for the Committee to attack. [him] and trying to publicly humiliate and judge him.

The suit describes de la Torre as “a distinguished career, decorated with many achievements,” while accusing the senators of painting him as “evil and a scapegoat.[ing] himself for the company’s problems, even those caused by the shortcomings of the Massachusetts health care system.” If he appeared in congress, he would not be able to defend himself from personal attacks without and forced to waive his Constitutional rights, the suit argues.

“Indeed, the Committee made it clear that it will consider Dr. de la Torre’s appeal. [of the Fifth Amendment] itself at the heart of their televised circus and brand him guilty for the sin of remaining silent in the face of these attacks on his character and integrity,” the lawsuit reads.

De la Torre wants a federal court to quash the Senate committee’s subpoena, issue two counts of contempt, and declare that the Senate committee violated his Fifth Amendment rights.

Outside lawyers doubt whether it will happen. The case is an “Ail Mary play,” according to Stan M. Brand, a lawyer who represented former Trump White House official Peter Navarro in a contempt of Congress case. De la Torre’s case “has little chance of success—I wouldn’t say no chance of success,” Brand told the Boston Globe.

“Every time someone has tried to sue the House or the Senate directly to challenge a congressional subpoena, the courts have said, ‘That’s not how this works,'” Brand said.