An analysis of Kansas court records by The New York Times found that more than 700 patients were sued over medical bills connected to the obstetrics practice once operated by Roger Marshall. In 81 of those cases, patients were arrested after failing to appear in court, according to the Times’ analysis. The records also show that Marshall’s lawyers sought warrants in 13 other cases, although the available records do not establish whether those patients were arrested.
How the collection process worked
The Kansas cases involved more than the filing of initial suits. The practice routinely sought an annual interest rate of 18 percent on unpaid balances, and collection actions also included wage and bank-account garnishments, according to the Times. In one patient’s case, a balance of $3,596 later exceeded $7,000; the reporting establishes the interest rate and the growth of the debt, but not that the interest was compounded.
A related process documented in Coffeyville, Kansas, involved court-ordered debtor’s examinations, where people were required to disclose their finances to collection attorneys. CBS News, reporting with ProPublica, said that missing an examination and then a contempt hearing could lead to a bench warrant and cash bail that was applied to the underlying private debt. Judges issued the warrants, while collection lawyers requested them. That description concerns the Coffeyville system generally and should not be treated as proof that every Marshall case followed the same procedure. CBS News and ProPublica separately documented that practice.
Marshall’s connection to the cases
What the records show about Kansas debt enforcement
The available statewide data do not isolate medical-debt cases. More than 60% of all debt-collection cases in Shawnee County in 2025 ended in default judgments, based on Kansas Judicial Branch data reported by Kansas Reflector. Kansas does not keep statewide statistics specifically on medical-debt collections, according to the Kansas Supreme Court and Office of Judicial Administration, as reported by the Reflector. Kansas law allows a judgment creditor to seek a court-ordered hearing about a debtor’s property and income. The court—not the creditor—may issue a bench warrant after the statutory contempt process, according to the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Under Kansas limited-actions law, a court may issue a bench warrant when a person fails to comply with specified requirements, followed by a hearing to determine whether contempt occurred, according to K.S.A. 61-3608.
Marshall, now 66, was a Kansas obstetrician-gynecologist who solely owned Heartland Regional OBGYN from 1998 through 2012 and later shared ownership until 2019, according to entity records reported by The New Republic. Some collection cases continued through at least 2021, after he had entered Congress. The suits included claims as low as $101, according to Mediaite’s account of the Times report.
The Times interviewed patients whose experiences were reflected in the records. Meischa Zimmerman said she was arrested while eight months pregnant in a case involving an emergency cesarean-section bill. She also said officers later handcuffed her in front of her 2-year-old daughter and that she had not received advance notice of the missed court dates that led to the arrests, according to the Times. She had agreed to a $50 monthly payment plan but was unable to continue it.
Joe Vasquez told the Times that he and his wife were arrested over Easter weekend in 2007 after missing a court date involving a $4,561 bill for his wife’s emergency hysterectomy. Vasquez said he was receiving disability benefits, his wife worked at a manufacturing plant, and the couple spent two days in jail before relatives helped provide money for release. The New Republic also reported that the practice sued Kellie Clutts over a $129 postpartum-care bill and later garnished her wages after she offered partial payments.
Marshall’s response
Payton Fuller, a spokeswoman for Marshall, said the billing practices were ordinary and that Marshall treated patients regardless of their ability to pay. She also argued that judges, rather than doctors, issue warrants when defendants repeatedly miss court dates. Those comments were provided in response to the Times’ questions, and the Times reported that court documents showed Marshall’s legal representatives had requested warrants in some cases.
