(Endo denied the allegations.) Young benefited from an almost reflexive societal trust in the medical profession. Weeks after the indictment made national news, the clinic was packed with people coming and going, one woman who worked in a building with a view of the parking lot told me. Some of the doctors who have been accused of exchanging drugs for sex in recent years threatened patients that they would cut off their supply of painkillers if they didnt gratify them. Years before the launch of PreventaGenix, Young had already been accused of abusing his nurse-practitioner license. In September 2014, Young, Reitz, and Patel opened their first clinic and called it PreventaGenix. The waiting room often overflowed with patients. Aggressive marketing is one piece of it. One young man told me he went to Youngs house that year to pay cash for a vial, knowing that a traditional doctor would be unlikely to prescribe testosterone to a healthy teenage boy. Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. A year later, the Tennessee nursing board suspended his ability to prescribe most opioids and other controlled substances for two years, saying that he had prescribed them irresponsibly. I need you to find this fucker, he wrote, according to court testimony later reported by The Jackson Sun. Listen to the trailer for, The Hard-Partying, Rock-Obsessed Nurse at the Center of a Massive Opioid Bust. [Chuckles.] Young and Phillips, both longtime musicians, reveal that theyre working on some rap songs about Youngs haters, then ponder how to do gang signs. Eventually Shirley Pickering, the nursing-board investigator who was looking into the allegations against Young, also grew terrified of him. Patients, meanwhile, dont always know that medical boards exist in the first place, or that they can complain to them if theyve been wronged, Lisa Robin, the chief advocacy officer for the Federation of State Medical Boards, says. Were tracing your fucking account now, so you better be prepared to reap the whirlwind of your bullshit., As he gathered followers, Young began to deploy his social-media presence to hunt down and intimidate his former employees and ex-friends, some of whom told me they felt threatened by Young and his followers. And I was like, My mind is blown. Everybody pay fucking attention worldwide because Im about to save this motherfuckers lifelive on Periscope broadcast! Were going to take the worst of the worst. * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. (Green, who has since cut ties with Young, would not comment on this when I reached him, but he told the Sun that he asked another officer to look up the information.). Downtown has an old-fashioned square, a few coffee shops striving for trendiness, and some suburban standbysMcAlisters Deli, Kohls, Chilis, Panera Breadall connected by well-maintained roads and featuring black oceans of parking lots. ), Khazan: So doctors were kind of like, Okay.. And now we see the result. And the consequences might have gone beyond sexual abuse and addiction. I mean, you could just kind of tell you could trust him. I didnt know that. LeAnn said that Jeff stayed for hours, changing IV bags and chatting with him. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for money, notoriety, and sexual favors.. She wasnt the only patient to stick by him. And no education whatsoever, Phillips jokes. By 2012, Young was allegedly supplying testosterone without a clear medical reason to high schoolers who wanted to bulk up. 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. Calles: Doctors judged me because of my weight. ), Jeff Young: Are we live? The Experiment is a co-production of The Atlantic and WNYC Studios. His wife also loves animals and works in the same clinic. Christi Calles: His doctors office was just rocked out. What a great, great, great, great song! In his early adulthood, he was a straitlaced young Republican who had short hair and wore a tie much of the time, one of his former co-workers told me. And were gonna send a message. They called it the single largest crackdown on prescription opioids in history. Be part of The Experiment. Even now, I cant say that. 1:07. Sound design by David Herman. Kevin: Jeff and I are full of antics. So it just kind of, I guess, comforted me. But that did not put a stop to Youngs ambitions. Khazan: Christi had really appreciated what Jeff did for her. Naylor: Yes, he does. Former employees speculated that he met the women in bars. They are often too under-resourced and understaffed to keep a watchful eye on all medical providers. Though many of these deaths have been caused by street drugs such as heroin and illegally manufactured fentanyl, the nations opioid epidemic was sparked by the kinds of painkillers medical providers prescribed. The next year, Jeff prescribed M.Y. When one video was apparently manipulated by one of his detractors and posted online, Young threatened whoever might have done it. He tried to ignore it, but when he woke up the next morning, LeAnn noticed he still looked really bad. And doctorswho work in what is, after all, a service professionsometimes feel that its easier to pacify the patient than to push back. Brown hair, green eyes, amazing body. He smells them again. We thought we would close out the daythe third Periscope of the daywith a little fireside chat. Lax regulations played a role. ), Youngs sexual desires and need to please patients allegedly soon blurred together. But the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I started to realize that Jeff has a point. 1986-present. Young was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in April 2019. Were taking next week off to work on new stories, but well be back with new episodes starting April 15. Jackson nurse-practitioner Jeffrey Young, known as the "Rock Doc," was released on bond and will be allowed to continue treating patients, a federal judge ruled Thursday. In February 2016, he texted one of his opioid patients, a police officer named Jay Green. Young grabs them and takes a big whiff. But it seemed like she wasnt the only one getting pain meds from the Rock Doc. 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. Young was by no means nationally or even regionally known. Obesity and diabetes are rampant; so is chronic pain. Sometimes the two men would fight, and broken glass would litter the floor. MY came to PreventaGenix complaining of lower-back pain and numbness in his left arm, and asked for refills of pain medications. When one patient told Young over Facebook Messenger that she was in shitty health and about to jump off a bridge, he prescribed her a cocktail of several different drugs, including fentanyl. Khazan: Part of making her feel better was prescribing her opioids. Others accused me of seeking to discredit Young and slander his name. Defending himself in one of his on-camera interviews, Young acknowledges that he is maybe a little untraditional and that he might like to drink a little bit after hours. But, he says, Im very passionate about what I do I work hard, but I play harder. Youngs practice was, for a time, an inexpensive, reliable option for medical care in Jackson. Naylor: (A long beat and a breath.) He may have that, but hes not Hes down to earth. Kevin: (In a Periscope video.) So you got to be a good judge of character. 1:32. Yeah. The allegations against Young point toward an especially sordid type of abuse in which some doctors victimize patients twice: first by getting them addicted to drugs, and then by sexually exploiting them. Calles: Yes. (Young has pleaded not guilty to all charges. But tonally, much of the footage betrays him. They dont want to touch you unless they have to touch you. Khazan: The one that caught my eye was this guy named Jeff Young, a nurse practitioner who called himself the Rock Doc, quote-unquote. Look at me! (The two clap each others backs in a half-hug.). Naylor: They would look at me and say [Dismissively. So, uh, here we are, sitting by the pool. Im in the middle of a life-saving procedure here. 2,760 Followers, 1,655 Following, 2,046 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Jeff Young II (JY2) #RockDoc (@jeffyoungii) They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. And I said, And they say that youre trading sex for medication. He was like, You know, these motherfuckers lie all the damn time. [Chuckles.] Young is . I cant wait to start being your patient again, one woman wrote. Minutes after finishing the second drink, Stephanie fell face-first onto the floor. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? 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. Youngs pursuit of fame culminated in his attempt to launch the Rock Doc television show. The man says if he were ever shot, he would go to Young before going to the hospital. Khazan: Like, for example, here he is sniffing a pair of womens underwear with his sidekick, a friend named Kevin. (Lo-fi synthesizer music plays up. 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. All rights reserved. Scott Deberry: And, you know, once you get around the tattoos and the way he talkscause he talks to you as if hes talking to you on the streets As long as he was going to take care of me and make me feel okay, or make me feel better, I had no problem with that. 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. Of course other doctors dont write as many prescriptions, the implication seemed to be. Fullington, who was also let go, told me she got a threatening call from Young. The patients of the nurse practitioner and aspiring reality star Jeffrey Young say he helped them like nobody else could. Youngs story raises the question of where care crosses into harm. Im like, Im as outspoken as he is. Longoria: Pharmaceutical companies marketed these drugs aggressively to doctors. Thank you for taking care of me, not just the sex and satisfaction but the Soma too, wrote one patient, referring to a muscle relaxer. And that was not the case at all. But the board has a history of letting suspicious providers go on practicing for years. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Young cared for all kinds of people, some of whom didnt have money or health insurance. He didnt mind saying a curse word or two.. [A moment of indistinct crosstalk.] Doctors, in theory, would only prescribe to people who needed the drugs and would monitor patients so they wouldnt get addicted. Dan Reaves, a local radio host on whose show Young occasionally appeared as part of a marketing plan, described Young as medically gifted. Why would you go to this doctor? This is The Experiment, a show about our unfinished country. He would chitchat with his patients, ask them about their latest tattoos. In the past five years, at least 40 medical providers nationwide have been accused of exchanging sex for addictive drugs. And Im like, Oh. [A beat.] Three, two, one. (Stephanie asked me to use a pseudonym for her because she doesnt want her name associated with the case.) Rock Doc pilot testimonial: (Over heavy rock music.) Use the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast, or write to us at theexperiment@theatlantic.com. Young was, in short, a medical provider who acted like everyones best friend. She was referred to Jeff by one of her friends. He was the casual party guy, not the stuffy doctor. 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. [Laughs.] Who cares? All throughout the past few months, Youngs fans have papered his Facebook wall with loving messages. Dont worry, my tattoos dont like you either, one image reads. I cant say for sure what the right course of treatment for LaRhonda was, and where opioids fit into that. Some sought counseling, slept under their beds, or carried guns. We got a very, uh, important (Fades under.). Christi Calles lived 30 miles away in Lexington. Pharmacists began to refuse to fill his prescriptions. The men each contributed $40,000 to the endeavor. How far can medical providers go in giving patients what they want? Actually very nice, yeah. All of his patients I saw when I would come would be all white. A staffer, who declined to talk on the record, asked me why I was writing about him. Young did seem to be famous enough in Jackson, however, to reinforce his own grand vision of himself. Phillips popped off to a friend.). The opioid epidemicwhich appears to only be getting worsehas made clear that wherever pain exists in America, grifters will follow. And it was immediately clear that he is not your average medical provider. Through his attorney, he declined to comment on this and the other allegations in this story because of a gag order issued by the judge in the case.). Ultimately, what hastened Youngs downfall is that some of the female patients asking him for drugs were undercover officers. Khazan: In 2017, the very public world Jeff had built around himself started attracting a different kind of attention. Young had an active channel on Periscope, where he and Phillips drank and waxed philosophical. At Youngs practice, the quantities of opioids were larger than many investigations that I conducted, Shirley Pickering, a nursing-board investigator, later said in court. I said, um, So what are yall doing after-hour? Khazan: LaRhonda didnt know anything about all of thisthe nursing board didnt make their investigation publicbut she was following him on social media. Naylor: I said, Go see Jeff. And she said, Id rather not. And I said, Why? And she said, Because if I go see him, hell start texting me and calling me. And I said, And wanting to go out with you? And she said, Yeah. Thats the thing. Make and Model: The only Billboard Hot 100 entry for new wave greats The Cars with an automotive title to match their band name . Young would continue to prescribe drugs there for two more years. Looking for Jeff Young online? Young was late to the office almost every day. Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. Its a small town; people talk. But the allegations against him point toward what can be permissible, even celebrated, in a medical system built on profit. Khazan: Or stitch someone up after they cut themselves on a wine glass. Though he was not an M.D., Young christened himself the Rock Doc.. I swear he didnt look at my leg for 30 seconds, and he told me exactly what it was, he says. Toward the end of PreventaGenix, the nurse practitioner so many people had praised deteriorated, according to former employees. Scott Deberry: I just didnt like all the bickering on social media and in that newspaper. Several others dismissed the notion that Young could be sexually coercive. Young became known for putting drugs into the hands of almost anyone who asked. Why would you go to this doctor? I accept all insurance, he told her. Thats the big joke. (Court records do not contain the names of Youngs alleged victims.) Khazan: A lot of them, unfortunately, went with it. The resulting addictions were blamed on reckless patients, rather than the fundamental chemistry of the opioids themselves. He decked out PreventaGenix with psychedelic artwork and set the stereo to loud rock. Case 18-11780-BLS Doc 45 Filed 08/02/18 Page 1 of 1041. Other female patients checkout sheets simply said No charge., Though he portrayed himself as harmlessly vulgar, Young could, in fact, get violent with women. I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. She texted Jeff. 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. One January morning, officers swarmed the road outside the PreventaGenix building, guns drawn. However, many of Youngs online supporters have remained loyal. 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. Nurse practitioner Jeff Young, known as the "Rock Doc," and . Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. Rumors started to spread in town that strange things were going on in Jeffs office. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information. 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. 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. Not that theyre not cheating on their wives. Khazan: Tanya had a different theory about where all the criticism was actually coming from. Longoria: And one of those worst of the worst providers stood out from the others. Khazan: Do you remember what kind of music was playing? But as I talked to more patients, they started saying things that really surprised me. Automated News Feed Subreddit No Censorship, Just News. Longoria: The result is that more than 450,000 people are dead from overdose in the last 20 years. PreventaGenix, with its Doric columns and grand portico, appeared to preside over the rest. I dont. An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. Young had also allegedly begun siphoning off $100 almost every day from the clinic for his personal expenses, according to former employees. I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. Young and the others were among dozens of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists arrested across seven states, targets in the nations largest takedown of medical providers related to prescription opioids. Jeff didnt monitor M.Y.s use, or talk to him about the danger of combining drugs. Other doctors dont post pictures of themselves with motorcycles and scantily clad women, either. I told him about this podcastexplained to him what a podcast was. Heres what I can tell you about the JY2, all right? Young appeared to operate more subtly. MY died on August 25, 2015, from an apparent drug overdose. For the cosmetically minded, he hosted alcohol-fueled Botox parties. Khazan: The Rock Doc, Jeff Young, has been in jail for almost two years, awaiting trial. every time. They didnt openly harass anyone who criticized them. (They relied on messages obtained by agents during the investigations into Young.) Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. I just didnt feel comfortable. (There were different Jeff Youngs in [the Records Management System] and I had very little information so he was not added to the report, the police report states.) The nurse practitioner Jeffrey Young produced a reality-TV pilot in which he branded himself "the Rock Doc., The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? As the nursing boards investigation of Young inched along, another agency launched its own probe into the Rock Doc. Right? I dont I dont even know what to say. He has been arrested several times, though not convicted, for assaulting women. Khazan: And some of what she saw really weirded her out. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is currently in jail awaiting trial. To one patient, who he prescribed hydrocodone, amphetamines, and fentanyl, he said, I accept all insurance. 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