Lawmakers will vote to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress next week after he declined to appear at a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill where he was subpoenaed to testify. The company, which had owned more than three dozen hospitals across eight states, declared bankruptcy earlier this year and has been struggling to find buyers for its facilities. Last week, de la Torre's attorney wrote to the committee, saying his client would "not participate" in the hearing, asserting the testimony needed to be postponed until after Steward's bankruptcy proceedings were resolved. The committee's chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, refused to postpone the hearing, where lawmakers also heard from health care workers and local officials in communities impacted by Steward's bankruptcy.
