Gov. Maura Healey instructed Thursday that federal investigators ought to “come after” Ralph de la Torre, the embattled Steward Health Care govt who was reportedly noticed on the Olympic Video games in France as his firm introduced two native hospitals had been slated to shut.
Healey’s remark, shared in an announcement with the Herald, marked the closest the governor has come to calling for a federal investigation into de la Torre after the corporate declared chapter and 1000’s of sufferers in Massachusetts had been left vulnerable to dropping well being care.
The primary-term Democrat mentioned she is “disgusted” by de la Torre.
“He basically stole millions out of Steward on the backs of workers and patients and bought himself fancy yachts, mansions and now apparently lavish trips to Versailles. I hope he gets his just due and that federal investigators will come after him for his actions. Our administration is working night and day to protect jobs, protect patients, and pick up the pieces of the situation that Ralph De La Torre has put us in,” Healey mentioned within the assertion.
Healey’s “hope” for a possible federal investigation into de la Torre comes weeks after Steward Health Care introduced plans to shut Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Middle in Ayer.
A spokesperson for de la Torre declined to touch upon Healey’s comment and a spokesperson for Steward Health Care, which has beforehand acknowledged it’s already below investigation by the U.S. Division of Justice, didn’t instantly reply to a Herald inquiry.
The de la Torre spokesperson did supply a response to a report from a Boston Globe columnist that he was on the Olympic Video games in Versailles on the time the deliberate closure of the 2 hospitals turned public.
The spokesperson mentioned de la Torre “does not have the authority” to make choices concerning closures or gross sales in Steward Health Care’s chapter course of.
“In fact, this announcement was made in the course of the bankruptcy court proceedings, resulting at least in part from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ refusal to offer its support to the debtors regarding the bids that were in fact received,” the spokesperson mentioned. “These facts are clear in the court transcript.”
De la Torre was “regrettably” on a household trip that was deliberate and paid for final yr, in line with the spokesperson, who emphasised his “lack of authority” across the hospital closures.
“Despite what the press continues to say, Dr. de la Torre has been focused on managing the situation, and to the extent that the bankruptcy proceedings allow him to, keeping hospitals open and patients fully cared for,” the spokesperson mentioned in an announcement.
Healey administration officers have mentioned this previous month that bids for Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Middle, together with these from a Michigan-based firm, weren’t accepted as a result of they weren’t deemed “qualified.”
The 2 hospitals are scheduled to shut on or round Aug. 31, a timeline that’s sooner than state laws sometimes present for. Greater than 1,000 workers are set to be laid off from the corporate when the amenities shut.
At an unrelated occasion earlier this week, Healey mentioned there have been no “viable” bids for the 2 hospitals.
“As we go forward, we’re facing a situation where there are dwindling funds, you know, and that’s why we as a state have had to support, in some instances, funding to continue operations,” she mentioned, referencing a cope with the state handy over $30 million to maintain Steward hospitals working till they are often bought.
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