NYT: Kansas' Roger Marshall sued more than 700 of his patients before becoming a U.S. senator
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What is the shocking medical‑debt lawsuit story behind Senator Roger Marshall?
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From KCUR, this is Up to Date with Steve Kraski. I'm producer Elizabeth Ruiz. Kansas US Senator Roger Marshall sued more than seven hundred of his patients during his decades-long career as an obstetrician gynecologist. Eighty-one people landed in jail and some faced wage garnishment. The story is an exclusive reported by the New York Times. Marshall was elected to Congress in twenty sixteen and is currently seeking reelection to the U.S. Senate. Today Steve is joined by Sarah Cliff, the New York Times reporter who broke the story.
Break this story down for us, Sarah. What did you learn about Kansas Senator Roger Marshall?
How many lawsuits did Marshall file and what were the arrest outcomes?
What what are you reporting here today?
Yeah, so what we learned, which is based on Kansas court records, is that during his decades long career as an obstetrician gynecologist, um, Senator Marshall, then Dr. Marshall, um, filed at least seven hundred lawsuits against patients of his over outstanding medical debt. These are either through the medical practice he owned or under his own name. In eighty-one of those cases, we found evidence in the court records that there was an arrest. Um, these are not arrests just over the debt, they are arrests over someone missing a court date related to their debt. Um, I interviewed eight patients who had faced lawsuits from Senator Marshall. And one of them even described spending two days in jail b waiting for their son to be able to post bond.
That couple um was uh facing debt from an emergency hysterectomy that the wife had had three years earlier. And and experts, you know, told me that this was pretty aggressive as far as medical debt collection goes. Hospitals and doctors have a wide array of options of how they want to collect outstanding bills from forgiving the debt. to pursuing something like arrests or wage garnishments. And it appears that Senator Marshall used the more aggressive tactics to recoup his outstanding debts.
I was gonna ask you that how unusual it is for doctors to go to court and actually have their patients arrested for not paying their bills. And you're saying going this far is a little unusual.
Yes.
Why are aggressive debt‑collection tactics like arrests considered unusual for doctors?
Um I spoke with two experts who study medical debt collection. I as a reporter have covered medical debt collection for over fifteen years. This is the first time I've interviewed someone who's spent multiple days in jail in a court case related to medical debt that was new to me as a reporter in this space. As one expert told me, you know, a doctor's only obligation is to make payroll. They have to keep their business up and running. Beyond that, it's really up to them how they want to pursue debts. And there are some who say, we're not gonna s sue patients, there's too much headline risk, we don't feel right about it. But then there are others and you know, Senator Marshall's not the only one. There are other doctors and hospitals that do feel like, you know, these services were rendered, this debt is owed, the court dates have been missed, that these are appropriate steps to collect an outstanding debt.
Let's put a face on this story. You begin your uh story today by talking about a rural Kansas resident named Joe Vasquez, Sarah. Tell us about Joe Vasquez and what happened to him.
Yes, so Joe was at um an Easter egg hunt with his children and grandchildren in two thousand seven when police pulled up to his home. The reason they were there is because he and his wife had missed a court date over a uh medical bill for four thousand five hundred and sixty one dollars, which was left over from an emergency hysterectomy that the wife had had three years earlier.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the shocking medical‑debt lawsuit story behind Senator Roger Marshall?
0:00–1:26
2
How many lawsuits did Marshall file and what were the arrest outcomes?
1:26–2:53
3
Why are aggressive debt‑collection tactics like arrests considered unusual for doctors?
2:53–4:22
4
Who are the real people affected – what happened to Joe Vasquez and his family?
4:22–5:43
5
What do experts say about medical‑debt interest rates and legal contracts in Kansas?
5:43–7:11
6
How did Senator Marshall’s team respond to the New York Times investigation?
7:11–8:13
7
What impact could these revelations have on Marshall’s upcoming re‑election campaign?
8:13–10:15
8
What broader lessons does this case reveal about medical‑debt collection in the U.S.?
10:15–11:53
Speakers
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