BECKLEY, W.Va. — A Raleigh County circuit judge granted the DHHR’s request for a preliminary injunction against Coal Country Clinic, but will not ask the clinic to close its doors.
Judge Robert Burnside gave the petitioners (DHHR) and the respondents (Coal Country Clinic) 11 days to come up with a meaningful petition on factual basis on the arguments of non-compliance.
He also ordered the two sides to better communicate and find a solution to their disputes over who qualifies as terminally ill and who doesn’t.
Coal Country Clinic, operated in the Daniels area of Raleigh County, faces accusations that it violated state code in the amount of patients it treated that were described controlled narcotics without suffering terminal illnesses.
The DHHR attests that these qualifications make Coal Country Clinic a chronic pain management clinic.
Dr. Michael Kostenko, owner and operator of the clinic, disagrees. He testified in the hearing Monday that the vast majority of the patients he treats have terminal or degenerative illnesses.
Dr. Kostenko also claims to be a public health advocate who regular teaches online classes on the subject.
Coal Country Clinic will have two administrative appeals with the DHHR in December regarding their request for an exemption to the law and their debate over how many of their patients actually qualify under the current pain clinic management laws.
Coal Country Clinic has faced a civil monetary penalty and was ordered to close. They claim they have ceased operating as a pain clinic by reducing the number of patients they see for only chronic pain management, but the DHHR disputes that claim.
A date has not yet been set for a next hearing in court.