Report: Republican Senator, an OBGYN, Sued 700 of His Patients for Debts

Republican Sen. Roger Marshall (Kansas) sued hundreds of his patients for outstanding debts and had dozens of them arrested over the course of his decades-long career as an obstetrician-gynecologist, new reporting reveals.

Court records show that Marshall, who is running for reelection this fall, sued over 700 of his patients for debts, according to The New York Times. His practice, which he owned for over two decades, placed an 18 percent interest rate on bills for many patients — even as it served a rural area of Kansas that had a high proportion of poor and uninsured patients, for whom Marshall’s practice was the only option in the area.

The outstanding bills ranged from $101 to several thousands of dollars. Many patients who Marshall’s office sued were new parents who had just given birth and were stuck with the delivery bill.

The office frequently garnished paychecks and bank accounts. And, in 81 cases, patients were arrested for missing court dates in relation to their debts — though several people interviewed by the Times said they were never notified about the court dates to begin with.

One patient, Meischa Zimmerman, was arrested three times over a $3,600 bill for her C-section, conducted by Marshall. Marshall first sued Zimmerman, who was uninsured, just five months after the delivery. She tried to set up a plan to pay $50 a month for the bill, but was told at one point that the bill had nearly doubled to $7,000, due to the 18 percent interest rate placed by Marshall’s law firm.

“I had to choose whether I’d pay my electricity or pay $50 to a doctor who didn’t need it,” Zimmerman said. She was arrested in 2011, 2013, and 2016 for the bill; the first time, she recalls, “I asked them quietly: Can you not handcuff me in front of my daughter?” Her daughter was 2 years old, and she was 8 months pregnant.

Records show that several debt collection efforts by Marshall’s lawyers lasted for over a decade, with some continuing into his time in Congress, which began in 2017.

Read more UK, France, and Canada Announce Bans on Goods from Illegal Israeli Settlements

Joe Vasquez and his wife were arrested in 2007 for a $4,500 bill for an emergency hysterectomy done by Marshall three years earlier, and spent two days in jail while their son borrowed money to post bond. They were insured and believed the billing was done faultily. “Every little bit of money we were getting went for rent and bills,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez was just recovering from emergency surgery when he was arrested — and, as a result, police did not handcuff him and put him in solitary confinement.

Marshall’s spokesperson brushed off responsibility, saying: “Judges issue warrants when people repeatedly miss court dates, not doctors.” However, records showed that Marshall’s lawyers specifically requested arrest warrants dozens of times.

There are many options available to health care providers whose patients have outstanding debts that do not involve arrest or wage garnishment, including setting up low-interest or interest-free payment plans, offering income-based forgiveness plans, or dropping the debt entirely. Research has found that arrests over debt are relatively rare, and a Stanford University economist said that Marshall’s pursuits of patients “seem to be an extreme case.”

Meanwhile, Marshall has touted his service for patients in rural communities, and campaigned as “Doc Marshall.” “For 5,000 Kansans, life began here, in the trusted hands of Dr. Marshall,” said an ad for his 2020 campaign for Senate. His campaign website touts that he was “the only OB-GYN in the area,” and brags that “[w]omen drove hours” to see him because he accepted Medicaid.

Last year, Marshall voted for Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which kicked 14 million people off of Medicaid and other health coverage.

Read more As Farmers Struggle, Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Profits Off High Gas Prices