She once saw someone running across her yard into the woods. He pleaded not guilty to the . One former patient who had a falling-out with Young told me he or someone associated with him attacked her on the internet forum Topix, calling her a whore and a drunk. She said her home address and photos of her adult daughters were posted on the site, along with rape threats directed at her daughters. She appreciated that he asked about her grandkids. In 2020, had he not been indicted, he would have been allowed to petition to have his prescribing privileges reinstated, as long as he agreed to extra monitoring. Many of the people I interviewedincluding some of Youngs former patients and employeesasked to remain anonymous, often because they feared retribution at the hands of Young and his friends. Jackson, a city of about 70,000 people, looks like almost any midsize patch of America that sprang up sometime after the Pilgrims but before Microsoft. Hes so cute thats my brother and my best friend, Young says, giving Phillips a gentle kiss. Though Young claimed that he also fired drug-seeking patients, Gutgsell testified in a deposition that he would meet some patients after hours and write them prescriptions anyway. Without doing a physical exam, Young diagnosed MY with chronic lower-back pain and anxiety, the letter details. The first move of any significant consequence for Young came in early 2017, when the DEA raided the clinic. Khazan: Part of making her feel better was prescribing her opioids. Naylor: They would look at me and say [Dismissively. Khazan: Jeff and his friend Kevin would often head to Periscope to defend themselves. With Young at least temporarily behind bars, some of his fans seem to have reached a point of disillusionment with the Rock Docor, at least, a point of fatigue. I dont I dont even know what to say. There is a friendliness, too, that one associates with the South. In fact, he avoided doctors at all costs. And you can kind of look at it like locker-room talk . Not that theyre not watching internet porn. Yeah. Theres actually a diagnosis called white-coat hypertension. Its when your blood pressure spikes in a doctors office because the whole experience is nerve-racking. Young cries at his sons fifth-grade graduation, then explains that hes so emotional because his nurses are having their periods. He was always polite. And hed stream from inside the clinic sometimes. As many as three women a day allegedly came to his office for sex, though one former employee said Young might have had sex with more women after hours. Am I a misogynist, or do women just like rough sex? Young asks himself in one video. Why didnt anyone try to put a stop to this? I just had a lot of questions about how could this happen., Further reading: The Hard-Partying, Rock-Obsessed Nurse at the Center of a Massive Opioid Bust. One of them was that I had the story all wrong. Hey! Youngs pursuit of fame culminated in his attempt to launch the Rock Doc television show. The grosser side. The entire epidemic has been an unending story of doctors, pharmaceutical executives, and public officials blithely ignoring signs of danger. But one thing that I was really curious about is how you actually went from having opioids being a thing that existed to having opioids be a thing that existed in peoples medicine cabinets. No one could quite tell me who or what was responsible for Youngs transformation. Scott Deberry: You go to the doctor, and you tell them whats wrong with you, and they look at you like, Oh, its nothing. With a heavy Mercy me, Phillips produces a pair of womens panties from a bag. It fit neatly, at least, into a story I was already really familiar with: It was the greedy provider who was allegedly taking advantage of his patients. Naylor: Thats a really hard question for me to answer, because I believeour whole family believesthat he saved my husbands life. Yall partying in the office? [Chuckles.] According to police reports and court records, his second ex-wife, Dawn, claimed that throughout their relationship Young repeatedly pushed, threatened, and attempted to rape her. And, to be honest, most of the time when you see a white male with a lot of tattoos, theyre usually not someone that hangs around with people of different races. Khazan: He worked in the timber industry, and one day at work, he got overheated and disoriented. This requirement is waived, however, in cases where public health, safety, or welfare imperatively requires emergency action.). Stephanie would accompany him to different clubs in the area, and wherever he went, she said, he was surrounded by hired bodyguards and friends she called bouncers, who were around for the times when he drank too much or flirted with women and got into fights with their boyfriends. Young was among them. I expected to hear lots of horror stories of abuse and mistreatment. I tried to reach out to women who Jeff was rumored to have exchanged drugs for sex with, but none of them wanted to talk on the record. Some people from the area said they had been harassed by Jeff and were afraid to speak out. Mellow and slow, it moves under the narration the way water moves through a stream.). Jeffrey Young wanted to give you a real look inside his clinic. Despite some patients praise for Young, the evidence that he routinely walked far over that line remains alarming. Once his colleagues were out of the business, Young began crafting a persona based around rock music and hard living. Khazan: In 2017, the very public world Jeff had built around himself started attracting a different kind of attention. Khazan: The videos were sarcastic and loose, intimate in their own bizarre way. (A long moment of music with no narration before it fades out. Khazan: Not long after Jeff opened Preventagenix, the Tennessee nursing board started to investigate him for prescribing high doses of opioids to his patients, even when he didnt have a good medical reason. In September 2014, Young, Reitz, and Patel opened their first clinic and called it PreventaGenix. And most doctors youve seen, they give off this persona as like, Im too cool. At other times, PreventaGenix staffers would stumble upon a woman he had brought to the clinic the previous night. Strippers, tattoo artists, and rock-band groupies saw a kindred spirit in Young and came to him as patients. How was a nurse practitioner whose behavior was so outrageous allowed to treat patients for so long? I have found accounts of at least 40 other medical providers in the country who have been accused of exchanging sex for addictive drugs. Calles: I mean, you have killersmurderers, I meanthat have not been in jail this long. And he said, You be sure and tell them that Jeff is the best doctor Ive ever seen. He said, Promise me you will tell them that. I said, I promise I will. I said, I will tell them that., (The music plays up for a long moment, then fades out under the narration.). Longoria: And what part of the crisis were you most focused on? Around 2013, Young allegedly prescribed hydrocodone, a benzodiazepine, and Adderall for a patient whose visits he described as a concierge-type thing, Pickering said in court. Khazan: In the pilot, he presents himself as more of a friend than a medical professional. If PreventaGenix staffers suspected that a patient was abusing drugs, they would sometimes try to fire the patient, by telling him or her not to return to the clinic. The department suggested that he surrender his license in order to resolve the matter quickly, but according to a report from The Tennessean and The Jackson Sun, a defiant Young rejected that offer. I am very nervous about it, she replied. (Court records do not contain the names of Youngs alleged victims.) Occupation (s) Guitarist. They are often too under-resourced and understaffed to keep a watchful eye on all medical providers. The biggest blow came in 2019, when Jeff was indicted by the federal government for overprescribing opioids, often in order to get, quote, money, notoriety, and sexual favors., In a court hearing, investigators described several Facebook messages between Jeff and his patients, identified only by their initials. (Somber, reflective droning notes play up. I mean, I worked at a bank for 15 years, and when youve worked at a bank and youve cashed checks, you have to judge people in two seconds. She doesnt think Young was the one who drugged her, but she believes nevertheless that she was drugged. Never give up God is full of second chances, one woman wrote. had lower back pain and complained of numbness in his left arm. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. Im Julia Longoria. As so often happens with irresponsible medical providers, Youngs popularity in the communityalong with an indifferent, slow-moving bureaucracyallowed him to operate for half a decade despite initial warning signs and then multiple arrests and investigations. Khazan: LaRhonda didnt know anything about all of thisthe nursing board didnt make their investigation publicbut she was following him on social media. So, uh, here we are, sitting by the pool. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Brown hair, green eyes, amazing body. He smells them again. Women were drawn to Young; he had a big house and was the first to buy everyones drink. Two bouncers made sure she got home, but when she woke up in bed the next morning, her eyes were black, her nose was broken, and her mouth was bleeding. Tune in today! Officials were well aware of the allegations surrounding him over this period: The states health department had received at least 13 complaints about Young since 2015. On my trip, I strolled by a glass case near the federal courthouse that held a large Bible opened to the Gospel of John. [A moment of indistinct crosstalk.] (The two clap each others backs in a half-hug.). Purdue Pharma ad voice-over: Once youve found the right doctor and have told him or her about your pain, dont be afraid to take what they give you. Jeff gets his nick name "Rock Doc" from his loyal patients. (The synthesizer takes over the harmony, traipsing up and down the melody line before it quiets and the episode ends.). This social-media stardom appears to have helped inoculate him against concerns that his loose approach to medicine could harm anyone. Youngs devotees have maintained for years that he was a great man on a noble mission, and that people who spoke against him didnt understand his radical approach. (A moment of narrative silence. Some of Youngs dalliances with his patient-friends similarly took a dark turn. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. This distinction is important, because while nurse practitioners are functioning in the same capacity as physiciansordering and interpreting He decked out PreventaGenix with psychedelic artwork and set the stereo to loud rock. You may not like my tattoos. Khazan: And Christi also told me a very similar thing as the other patients I talked to: Shes had terrible experiences with other doctors. Jacksons cheeriness, though, is at odds with the populations somewhat grim physical health. [Laughs.] At the beginning of the opioid epidemic, the autonomy of doctors to prescribe opioids was almost limitless, Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University professor who researches mental-health policy, says. LaRhonda Scott Deberry: When I first met him, I thought maybe he was prejudiced. Young grew up in Bethel Springs, a 700-person village near Jackson. (Young has pleaded not guilty to all charges. One story I found in a letter from Jeffs nursing-board case stuck with me. Kevin: And were going to ask our friendsour warriors out thereto put these folks in their place, because, you know, the Golden Rule. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. In May 2019, shortly after Young was indicted, I traveled to Jackson to try to understand the place that gave rise to the Rock Doc. The Experiment is a co-production of The Atlantic and WNYC Studios. Nurse practitioners have played a key role in Tennessees opioid epidemic. 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