NEWS: HELP Committee to Vote on Civilly Enforcing Subpoena and Holding Steward CEO in Criminal Contempt

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Ranking Member Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) today announced that, in light of Steward CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre’s failure to comply with the committee’s subpoena and absence from today’s hearing, the Senate HELP Committee will vote next week to adopt two resolutions: one for civil enforcement and another for certification to the United States Attorney for criminal contempt.

“Today, we heard from nurses and community leaders who were impacted by Steward Health Care’s negligence and mismanagement,” said Sanders and Cassidy. “We were hopeful that Dr. de la Torre would comply with our bipartisan subpoena and appear before the committee, to testify to the harm Steward has caused to patients, health care workers, and the communities in which they live. Unfortunately, he failed to appear. We have no choice but to move forward and pursue both civil enforcement of the subpoena and criminal charges against Dr. de la Torre.”

If passed by the committee, both resolutions will be advanced to the full Senate for a vote. The resolution for civil enforcement of the subpoena instructs Senate Legal Counsel to bring a civil suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia to require Dr. de la Torre’s compliance with the subpoena and his testimony before the HELP Committee.

The criminal contempt resolution would refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to criminally prosecute Dr. de la Torre for failing to comply with the subpoena.