Media outlets and politicians alike have mischaracterized, maligned and disseminated outright misinformation regarding Dr. Ralph de la Torre, including baseless claims that Dr. de la Torre used the Steward Health Care System as his personal bank account, leading to corporate bankruptcy.
In reality, despite a broken U.S. hospital system, Dr. de la Torre continues to fight for Steward’s facilities and the communities they serve, and as of September 17, 2024, a deal has been brokered and approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on an interim basis to maintain services at 29 of 31 Steward hospitals. As Founder and CEO, Dr. de la Torre has done everything in his power to save Steward Health Care’s hospitals.
Members of the HELP Committee have collectively undertaken a concerted effort to punish Dr. de la Torre for invoking his rights protected under the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. These members have weaponized Congress’s civil and criminal contempt procedures to punish Dr. de la Torre and obtain his testimony by compulsion.
At the Committee meeting on September 25, 2024, there was not a single mention that Dr. de la Torre asserted his constitutionally protected right to invoke the 5th Amendment. Instead, the HELP Committee unanimously approved of the Contempt Resolutions despite a previous acknowledgement of Dr. de la Torre’s Fifth Amendment invocation.
Put simply, we believe the HELP Committee has displayed an abhorrent abuse of power and a flagrant violation of Dr. de la Torre’s constitutional rights. That is why on September 30, 2024, Dr. de la Torre took the necessary step of filing a lawsuit against the Senate HELP Committee.
Dr. de la Torre will not be intimidated by the Committee’s threat of prosecution merely for asserting his constitutional protections. 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.
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Rebecca Kral:
rkral@Longacresquare.com
