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Senator Roger Marshall Sued Hundreds of Patients, Arrested 81 for Debts; Now He’s a Senator
Confirmed
In Short: Marshall, who first entered Congress in 2016, has a net worth of between $3 million and $9.8 million, according to financial disclosures. Many of those sued were in rural Barton County, a region with above-average poverty rates and a population of less than 25,000 people.
Marshall, who first entered Congress in 2016, has a net worth of between $3 million and $9.8 million, according to financial disclosures. Many of those sued were in rural Barton County, a region with above-average poverty rates and a population of less than 25,000 people.
One couple told The Times they were arrested in 2007 over Easter weekend as they prepared to do an Easter egg hunt with their grandkids, missing a court date in a $4,561 bill from the wife’s emergency hysterectomy. Another patient, a mom, said her $3,596 debt from an emergency Cesarean section swelled to over $7,000 and she was arrested in front of her 2-year-old when she missed a court date.
A spokesperson for Marshall noted that warrants stem from the court system, not physicians themselves. Marshall has spent decades caring for patients regardless of their ability to pay, according to the spokesperson.
What's still developing
- The New York Times poured over Kansas court records and found Marshall, 66, sued more than 700 patients, sometimes for bills as small as $101.
- Roger Marshall (R-KS) — who spent more than 25 years as a physician before entering politics — pursued nearly 1,000 patients for unpaid medical debts so relentlessly that dozens were arrested and others had their pay garnished.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.