The Steward era in Massachusetts health care officially ended on Tuesday, but its wreckage will be with us for years. Six former Steward hospitals were transferred to new owners, and I assume they can only be an improvement.

Ralph de la Torre, the controversial chief executive officer of one of the nation’s largest private health systems, Steward Health Care System, will step down from his position Oct. 1.

Steward Health Care leaves behind a hospital landscape that has been weakened by the company's meltdown and its closure of five hospitals over the past decade.

The soon-to-be former CEO of now-bankrupt Steward Health Care is responding to a criminal contempt referral authorized by the U.S. Senate with a lawsuit against the members of the congressional committee behind the underlying contempt resolutions.

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre has overseen a network of some 30 hospitals that's come under increased scrutiny.

The vote came after Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre failed to comply with a subpoena to testify at a hearing over the company's bankruptcy.

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre will be stepping down after refusing to testify before a U.S. Senate panel on how his health care company went belly up — earning him a referral to a

Hospitals in Brighton, Methuen, Haverhill, Fall River, Brockton and Taunton now have not-for-profit status, after nearly 15 years of ownership by the for-profit Steward Health Care.

Steward Health Care has deals in the works to sell more than two dozen hospitals and its physician group as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

De la Torre's resignation comes as proceedings continue in Steward's Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which so far have resulted in the closure or transfer of seven Massachusetts hospitals.