Dr. Ralph de la Torre, a former heart surgeon who built and became the face of Steward Health Care and its network of neglected hospitals, is stepping down from the company Tuesday and will no longer serve as board chairman and chief executive, the company said in a statement to the Globe Saturday.
With his affinity for luxury yachts and corporate jets, de la Torre became a symbol of greed in for-profit health care, amid mounting stories this year of patients harmed by shortages of staff and critical supplies at Steward hospitals. De la Torre is believed to hold a majority of shares in the private company, which was one of the nation’s largest for-profit, private health care systems, and is now being taken apart in bankruptcy proceedings.
A Steward spokesperson did not say on Saturday if de la Torre will remain a major shareholder in the company he helped found in Boston in 2010.
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