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.

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

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.

The U.S. Senate has approved a resolution intended to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in criminal contempt for failing to testify before a Senate panel.

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

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.

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

The resignation comes after the US Senate voted earlier this week to hold Steward's CEO in criminal contempt for failing to testify.

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.