Court Upholds Forfeiture Against Mingo Pain Clinic Doctor

A federal appeals court has upheld the forfeiture of $88,000 imposed on a doctor who had once been West Virginia's top prescriber of pain medications.

In a one-page unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Monday upheld a lower court's forfeiture order against Katherine Hoover, who now lives in the Bahamas.

Authorities raided Hoover's Mountain Medical Care Center in Mingo County in 2010, and accused her of recklessly and illegally issuing hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for pain medications from the clinic. She never faced criminal charges though.

Authorities said the $88,000 in question came from mostly from a bank account populated with clinic-related funds.

Hoover said in court papers that her prescriptions were legitimate.