I am a, uh, nurse practitioner. Most doctor appointments, after all, average a nerve-racking 17 minutes, in which you spill out a complicated medical history and pray the doctor has a good solution. And it was immediately clear that he is not your average medical provider. His wife also loves animals and works in the same clinic. Calles: I really am so thankful that he suggested that to me, because if he hadnt have, I probably wouldve never done it, because I wouldnt take anybody else seriously enough to even think about doing it. His lawyer also declined to answer any specific allegations. Theres clear evidence that opioid manufacturers knew the drugs were addictive, yet they marketed them aggressively anyway. Youngs pursuit of fame culminated in his attempt to launch the Rock Doc television show. You may not like my tattoos. But tonally, much of the footage betrays him. Yall partying in the office? [Chuckles.] Young would continue to prescribe drugs there for two more years. Every single time I went to that doctor and I left, Stairway to Heaven played. But the allegations against him point toward what can be permissible, even celebrated, in a medical system built on profit. You could see, almost, when you were talking to him, he was listeningand he was thumping that pen to the beat of the music. Khazan: Do you remember what kind of music was playing? He remarried in 2006. I visited Youngs clinic, but, through a staffer, he declined to speak with me. Khazan: Thirty-one doctors and seven other nurse practitioners were busted in that same Justice Department sweep that caught Jeff. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? You may not like what I stand for. 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. Jeff gets his nick name "Rock Doc" from his loyal patients. 1:07. On April 17, 2019, officials swept through Appalachia, charging 53 medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Even when they do, the boards are mainly composed of doctors and nurses peers, who can be reluctant to throw the book at one of their own, says Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a Vanderbilt University law professor who has studied medical boards. Oh, look, I got a new haircut today (Fades under.). Julia Longoria: Over 20 years ago, pharmaceutical companies began to market the use of a magical pill. #coffeeplease #noontime #rockrageradio www.rockrageradio.com ), Youngs sexual desires and need to please patients allegedly soon blurred together. Listen to the trailer for. Khazan: The videos were sarcastic and loose, intimate in their own bizarre way. Khazan: Jeff and his friend Kevin would often head to Periscope to defend themselves. Hes prescribing drugs that people want, another man added. [Chuckles.] Thats very distressing Yeah, Im shocked, you know? Right? Strippers, tattoo artists, and rock-band groupies saw a kindred spirit in Young and came to him as patients. Young appeared to operate more subtly. The allegations against Young seemed to take a toll on him, though. A woman Ill call Stephanie developed a friendship with Young a few years ago when she was regularly seeing him for swelling in her throat. They didnt openly harass anyone who criticized them. Young: All right. Actually very nice, yeah. Naylor: They just immediately hit it off. 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.). The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Theres this moment in one of the videos that I keep thinking about: Young: (Over more pool filtration.) When one video was apparently manipulated by one of his detractors and posted online, Young threatened whoever might have done it. She told me that while she was a patient at the clinic, she had a front-row seat to Preventagenix getting more and more popular. Im very shocked. I said, um, So what are yall doing after-hour? Jacksons cheeriness, though, is at odds with the populations somewhat grim physical health. We cant live if hes out, she said. So you got to be a good judge of character. A staffer, who declined to talk on the record, asked me why I was writing about him. One former employee told me its not clear whether Young was exchanging prescriptions for sex or just giving his many girlfriends the medications they asked for. Lax regulations played a role. Kevin: (In a Periscope video.) Scott Deberry: Everyone in his office was all white. 0:04. I mean, if somebody pats you on the back, that aint coming on to you. He refilled MYs prescriptions for Percocet and Valium, and also prescribed him hydrocodone. Young got married, then quickly got divorced, according to several people who knew him then. This is a bunch of bull crap, she said. (Four years later, the health department received a complaint about this testosterone sideline, but the complaint was never assigned to an investigator, according to Pickering.) Longoria: And what part of the crisis were you most focused on? I had a brother that passed away, and when he passed away, his friends played that for him at his funeral. The patients of the nurse practitioner and aspiring reality star Jeffrey Young say he helped them like nobody else could. 1,274 likes. I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. Hes just one of the guys that you could drink a beer with, or you can go let him give you a shot in the ass (Fades under.). The pilot footagesome of which Young posted to YouTube, and some of which I obtained from a person who was once close to Youngportrays the Rock Doc as a medical bad boy whos willing to break free from the establishment to deliver real talk. We put out calls and emails to dozens of Jeff Youngs patients. She told me that Jeff took her pain seriously. The self-proclaimed "Rock Doc" is accused of trading powerful . In one post, tagged with American holocaust, he writes, I have always been a survivor and have scars of significance to symbolize thus, and this is where they have underestimated me and my resolve., In March 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Young petitioned the court to be released to house arrest because he was on immunosuppressive drugs for a kidney transplant he had years ago and was concerned about the risk of complications from COVID-19. * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. Calles: I mean, you have killersmurderers, I meanthat have not been in jail this long. Through his lawyer, Michael R. Working, Phillips did not return several requests for comment. (Youngs attorney claimed in court that only about 25 percent of his patients were.) He exhibited a certain tenderness as he filled syringes and sutured skin. (Endo denied the allegations.) Wear a short skirt and no panties.. But Young soon revealed a blustering personality that started to overwhelm the team project. Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. The whole thing was Very Online. An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. Tanya Ballard: I think people are Just didnt like Jeff. Youngs story raises the question of where care crosses into harm. In recent years, the Justice Department has started coming for unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists, too. Never give up God is full of second chances, one woman wrote. Even now, I cant say that. 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. I am very nervous about it, she replied. And I was like, My mind is blown. Tune in today! But, in theory, there should have been a check on all this. Hes so cute thats my brother and my best friend, Young says, giving Phillips a gentle kiss. Jackson nurse practitioner Jeffrey Young will await his opioid trafficking trial in jail, an appeals court decided Thursday. Having hordes of fans seems to have allowed Young to buy more deeply into his own rock-and-roll fantasy, which in turn gave him the confidence to broadcast his life through even more videos and updates. every time. He graduated from Musicians Institute in 1985, and is best known for his time with the thrash metal band Megadeth, appearing on the 1988 album So Far, So Good. Pharmacists began to refuse to fill his prescriptions. This is Aalto. One of his patients, Helena Louvaris, told me that Young saved her life by putting her on a diet plan. Calles: I mean, the whole deal of him being in jail this long is completely unfair. Stephanie had been in an abusive relationship and dealt with a slew of other traumas. A new court filing, first reported by The Tennessean last week, portrays the Rock Doc as a menacing figure at the intersection of the opioid crisis and the #MeToo movement. LeAnn Naylor: I have not had a lot of positive interactions with doctors. Scott Deberry: But after a while, when you read stuff, how many people could be wrong? He was the casual party guy, not the stuffy doctor. In March 2019, the health department received a complaint that Young had inappropriate sexual contact with patients, and sent him a letter of warning without disciplining him. We got a very, uh, important (Fades under.). Stephanie, who returned to Youngs clinic after the incident at the club, said Young helped her more than any doctor shes ever seen. In 2014, Young began seeing a patient identified as MY in a letter from Tennessees department of healtha letter that would ultimately lead to a nursing-board hearing for Young. Its often called the invisible illness, because, even though the pain is very real for the person experiencing it, some doctors dont take it seriously. Be part of The Experiment. Country music lyrics, guitar tabs/tablatures, chords source #1. The grosser side. I accept all insurance, he told her. Khazan: He worked in the timber industry, and one day at work, he got overheated and disoriented. Were small enough where we still talk, Jerry Gist, who was the mayor at the time, told me. You know that. The men each contributed $40,000 to the endeavor. She once saw someone running across her yard into the woods. Jackson, Tennessee. But it seemed like she wasnt the only one getting pain meds from the Rock Doc. They painted a picture of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to hang out. Every time. Young did seem to be famous enough in Jackson, however, to reinforce his own grand vision of himself. Naylor: Yes, he does. Khazan: I started calling up former patients to try to understand the relationship Jeff had with them, and the appeal of this whole Rock Doc thing. But when he suggested it the way he did, I took it seriously. The scenes are meant to serve as a testament to the effectiveness of Youngs work hard, play harder ethos. The resulting videos are typical scenes from a medical practicepeople donning gloves, waiting in chairsspliced together over a heavy-metal soundtrack. They described Young to me as intelligent, as knowing almost as much as a doctor would knowor maybe even more. Know his wife, age, net worth, family, Khazan: Anyone online could watch him, say, biopsy someones skin while listening to hard rock. Young was late to the office almost every day. Jeff immediately sees that he is inyou know, hes in pretty bad shape. Thats the only way you can describe it. We thought we would close out the daythe third Periscope of the daywith a little fireside chat. Patients say the Rock Doc helped them like no one else could. Young: Hi, my name is Jeff Young. Khazan: I had a lot of Why on earth? questions: Why would he do this? She would get phone calls at her house, answer, and hear only strange whispers, she said in a court hearing. (A meandering guitar melody enters the background. Updated at 10:28 p.m. Its a shame, he told me, that Young got into so much legal trouble; think of all the people he might have helped. I dont wear underwear. Khazan: Christi Calles was the patient who loved listening to Stairway to Heaven.. Jeff didnt monitor M.Y.s use, or talk to him about the danger of combining drugs. Young was, in short, a medical provider who acted like everyones best friend. The story of how that doctor-patient communication broke downhundreds of thousands of timesis what Olga wanted to understand. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. (Dawn did not press charges at the time, and she declined to speak with me for this story.). A restaurant called the Little Rebel displayed a Confederate flag. They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. In addition to steroid shots, Young prescribed her oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall for her various medical issues. He would still be allowed to prescribe testosterone and cough syrup with codeine, however. The camera follows Young as he treats patients, talks on a local radio station, dances with women at a club, and brags about drinking. (The music changes tone, becoming a little more up-tempo and treble-heavy.). His followers across social-media accounts numbered in the low thousandshigher than a casual users, but a trifle compared with even a C-list celebritys fan base. Jackson Sun. And most doctors youve seen, they give off this persona as like, Im too cool. But Young was eager to let the world know that he was no typical nurse practitioner. (Droning music, reflective and cool, plays.). Some speculated that it could have been drugs, alcohol, the prospect of fame, a divorce from his second wife the year after PreventaGenix launched, or a combination of all of them. From that day on, he saw him for everything. Natalia Ramirez: This episode of The Experiment was reported by Olga Khazan and produced by Alvin Melathe, with editing by Katherine Wells, Julia Longoria, and Denise Wills. Its light and upbeat.). Jeffery Dale Young known as Dr. Jeff Young or Dr. Jeff is American Veterinarian and a reality TV actor. Though the system came slowly for Young, during the years he was being investigated America underwent a national reckoning about opioids. Copyright 2021 The Atlantic and New York Public Radio. Former employees speculated that he met the women in bars. Khazan: And sometimes theyd even ask their followers and fans to back them up. You may not like my piercings. Longoria: The result is that more than 450,000 people are dead from overdose in the last 20 years. Then it rewinds into nothingness.). 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. (Young has denied that hed had sex with the patient who appeared to be drugged.). You ready? One of the differences between physicians and nurse practitioners is that physicians are regulated by a state Board of Medicine, while in most states, nurse practitioners are regulated by a state Board of Nursing. I expected to hear lots of horror stories of abuse and mistreatment. a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. Being around Young made her feel emotionally safe, she said. His vision was, evidently, to one day launch a reality series of the same name. In an attempt to understand how Young got away with so much for so long, Ive spent more than a year tracking his story, reading court documents, and examining his extensive digital footprint. Khazan: LaRhonda Scott Deberry is a 54-year-old former teacher who lives in Memphis. Others accused me of seeking to discredit Young and slander his name. Rather than call for help, Young walked away and left me on the ground, she told me. In his frequent social-media updates, he would drink and flip off the camera. I mean, he had his doctors lab coat on. Nurses are consistently rated higher in honesty and ethics than all other professions that Gallup asks about, by a wide margin, the polling firm said in a January 2020 survey. Mellow and slow, it moves under the narration the way water moves through a stream.). I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. Longoria: The indictment against the Rock Doc alleges that he prescribed more than a million addictive pills, treated patients while intoxicated, and used his prescribing power to have sex with womenincluding women who were his patients. It moved so slowly in punishing drug-addicted nurses that some were able to get new jobs and steal narcotics while under investigation, an eastern Tennessee news station, WJHL, found in 2016. Off camera, Young allegedly prescribed 1.4 million addictive pills and had sex with female patients. By the end of this hearing, you will be asking what on Earth took the medical board so long, Pennebaker, the prosecutor, said in court. Patients would spend an hour or two in the waiting room, only to get a rushed exam and prescription. Young cries at his sons fifth-grade graduation, then explains that hes so emotional because his nurses are having their periods. But maybe, just maybe, he showed too much. And doctorswho work in what is, after all, a service professionsometimes feel that its easier to pacify the patient than to push back. This is just gonna be a little freeze spray first. Young and Phillips, both longtime musicians, reveal that theyre working on some rap songs about Youngs haters, then ponder how to do gang signs. In one scene, he and his best friend, a pharmaceutical representative named John Kevin Phillips, broadcast themselves on the video-streaming app Periscope. Khazan: The first time I watched this video, I just heard Jeff making excuses. Like many actual rock stars, he flamed out on his own extravagant lifestyle. Khazan: Christi had really appreciated what Jeff did for her. Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. This social-media stardom appears to have helped inoculate him against concerns that his loose approach to medicine could harm anyone. Sound design by David Herman. In September 2014, Young, Reitz, and Patel opened their first clinic and called it PreventaGenix. The Daily Beast Automated News Feed No Censorship, Just News. 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. I dont I dont even know what to say. He invited a cameraman to document his life and eventually had it edited into a pilot for a reality-TV show. Naylor: They would look at me and say [Dismissively. Rudins lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Young: (Over the sound of a pool-filtration system.) Hed also given her tips on how to eat better and how to lose weight. Khazan: To me, this felt immature, but it was all part of the brand. (She did not want to be named for fear of jeopardizing her business.) Opioid manufacturers such as Endo, the maker of Opana, and Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, targeted high-volume providers, in particular generalists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, who generally had less expertise in pain management and were more receptive to marketing from sales consultants, according to a lawsuit filed by the state of Tennessee against Endo in May 2019. MY died on August 25, 2015, from an apparent drug overdose. Hes a great doctor and never has he acted any way towards me but professional! one woman wrote. And you can kind of look at it like locker-room talk . In another, he totters around with an empty bottle of bourbon and pans the camera over to Phillips, who is asleep on the couch. Though both she and Reaves said Young should be held accountable for anything he did wrong, Stephanie told me that she forgave him. The crisis were you most focused on pressure spikes in a doctors office because the experience. 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