A Raleigh County doctor must immediately stop operating his rural practice as a chronic pain clinic, a judge ruled Monday.
Raleigh Circuit Judge Robert A. Burnside granted a state agency's request for preliminary injunction against Dr. Michael Kostenko and Coal Country Clinic, which sees about 600 patients a month.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources has sought to shut down the pain-pill clinic in Daniels for the past four months - part of a crackdown on facilities that don't comply with new licensing requirements.
"We are thankful for Judge Burnside's decision," said DHHR Secretary Karen Bowling. "Our job is to protect the people of our state and ensure that safeguards are in place for appropriate prescribing of pain medications."
In recent months, DHHR inspectors cited Kostenko and Coal Country Clinic for failing to keep adequate medical records that documented patient assessments and diagnoses. Kostenko, an osteopathic physician, also lacked state-mandated education and training to operate a pain clinic in West Virginia, according to DHHR.
Agency officials twice directed Kostenko to close his clinic, located on C&O Dam Road in Daniels, but he refused, DHHR said.
All of Kostenko's patients were receiving prescriptions for narcotic painkillers, according to state Board of Pharmacy reports.
Kostenko has argued that his practice doesn't have to be licensed as a pain clinic. He said Coal Country Clinic is exempt from state pain clinic rules because the majority of his patients suffer from a "progressive disease that is expected to shorten life," according to a letter sent to DHHR's Office of Health Facility Licensure.
"We are in legal compliance with the pain clinic law," Kostenko said. "Our practice is for community and public health and the treatment of disease. I believe the order, and how it's processed is a little abusive."
The law requires clinics to be licensed, provided more than half of patients are being treated for chronic pain unrelated to cancer or another terminal disease.
Tim Bailey, a patient at the Raleigh County clinic for the past 15 years, said Kostenko is a "good doctor" who never prescribes more pain medication than his patients need. Kostenko has treated Bailey for back and neck pain, Bailey said.
"Someone's got to help people like me," Bailey said. "We can't just go around living in agony. I don't know what I'm going to do."
DHHR inspections have forced 13 pain clinics to close over the past year, after the agency started enforcing new laws that aim to curb prescription drug abuse in West Virginia.
For years, West Virginia's pain clinics essential went unchecked unless a patient filed a complaint against a doctor or nurse through a medical licensing board. State officials have estimated that nearly 60 pain clinics could be operating in West Virginia.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.