Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

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January 5, 2010

Pain clinic denied license in Boyd

Carrie Stambaugh/The Independent

Catlettsburg — Boyd County officials voted Tuesday to deny a pain clinic a business license to prevent it from opening its doors.

In doing so the fiscal court became the second local government body to take the same approach to prevent a pain clinic from locating in a community within the last year.

No such business had applied for a business license in Boyd County, but fiscal court members and Sheriff Terry Keelin said they were concerned a clinic would only be a potential new source for prescription drugs and not of medical benefit to the community.

Judge-Executive William “Bud” Stevens told the fiscal court Tuesday he had been alerted to the potential cash-only pain clinic by Kentucky State Police. He said a captain with the Ashland Post informed him “that the same outfit” that was denied a business license in Grayson earlier this year to operate a pain clinic there was “thinking of locating” on U.S. 60 near Fannin Motors.

State Police Sgt. Bill Meade said Tuesday there appeared to be some miscommunication. He said officers inquired as to whether a clinic had secured a business license.

“We had no position at all on that business. It could be a legitimate business,” Meade said. “There is no investigation and no input toward that business or any other potential business on our side.”

County officials, however, do have a position.

“We don’t want that in Boyd County,” Keelin said.

Stevens described it as “not a good thing. We don’t want that,” he said.

Stevens said Tuesday’s action was “temporary, until we find out from the attorney general what we can and cannot do.”

County Attorney Phil Hedrick said he is working to determine what, if any, permanent action the fiscal court can take to prevent pain clinics from opening in Boyd County. Hedrick said he believes there is precedent to allow the banning of certain types of businesses considered public nuisances. For example, the county has ordinances banning adult entertainment establishments.

Tuesday’s action follows a similar response to a pain clinic opening in Carter County by the Grayson City Council. Council members there voted in June to deny the Grayson Pain Management Clinic, which briefly opened in an office space near First National Bank last summer, a license to operate in the city.

The council members said they were given testimony the clinic operated on a cash-only basis, accepted MRI and other medical records by fax or other remote sources and was staffed by a contract physician who issued prescriptions based on medical records rather than standard diagnostic procedures.

Carter County’s anti-drug organization ENOUGH also opposed the clinic, presenting a petition of more than 1,000 signatures of residents who opposed the clinic.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.

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