(a) A health care provider has the right to exercise his or her professional judgment to decline to administer, dispense, or prescribe narcotics without being subject to actual or threatened acts of reprisal.  

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Terms Used In West Virginia Code 60A-5-509

  • Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person or entity to engage in any form of threats or reprisal, or to engage in, or hire, or conspire with, others to commit acts or activities of any nature, the purpose of which is to punish, embarrass, deny, or reduce privileges or compensation, or cause economic loss or to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce any person to engage in such threats or reprisal, against a health care provider as a result of, or in retaliation for, the refusal of that health care provider to administer, dispense, or prescribe narcotics.  

(c) Any person or entity who violates the foregoing shall be subject to a private right of action by the affected health care provider and shall be liable in the amount of three times the economic loss sustained as a direct and proximate result of the reprisal.

(d) A health care provider that prevails in an action brought pursuant to this section shall be entitled to an award of costs and attorney fees.