Though he was not an M.D., Young christened himself the Rock Doc.. She would wake up to find that all her car doors had been opened overnight. To a different patient, he wrote, Come fuck me at my office right now., It is not illegal for doctors to have sex with their patients, though its considered unethical. Not that theyre not cheating on their wives. (Fades under.). Jeffrey Young wanted to give you a real look inside his clinic. Khazan: In one sense, I understand some of Jeffs patients defensiveness toward him. Khazan: In his Periscope videos, Jeff insisted it was all fun and games, and people were just criticizing him because of his style. At least 50 women are thought to have come to the clinic to have sex with Young, some of them allegedly doing so in exchange for drugs, according to court testimony. had lower back pain and complained of numbness in his left arm. Though both she and Reaves said Young should be held accountable for anything he did wrong, Stephanie told me that she forgave him. Three, two, one. It was just rocked out. Young: (Just after another person laughs.) The opioid epidemicwhich appears to only be getting worsehas made clear that wherever pain exists in America, grifters will follow. This ingratiating tendency allegedly extended to handing out prescriptions. Youre just probably not feeling good. But they never believed us. Khazan: A lot of them, unfortunately, went with it. LeAnn said that Jeff stayed for hours, changing IV bags and chatting with him. I didnt know that. Scott Deberry: You go to the doctor, and you tell them whats wrong with you, and they look at you like, Oh, its nothing. Scott Deberry: When I told him, I said, Every time I go to a doctor and tell them I feel like I have the flu, they look at me as if Im delusional.. Khazan: So, like, that doctor-patient interaction and how the opioids actually got prescribed. (Dawn did not press charges at the time, and she declined to speak with me for this story.). I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. Christi Calles: His doctors office was just rocked out. 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. He was the casual party guy, not the stuffy doctor. Several others dismissed the notion that Young could be sexually coercive. 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.). Young did seem to be famous enough in Jackson, however, to reinforce his own grand vision of himself. Jackson, TN USA. Young seemed eager to hire lots of staff, but would end up firing them later. The music plays on.). But tonally, much of the footage betrays him. He wasnt in pain. Calles: Yes. Young was a people pleaser, as one former employee described him. Its a small town; people talk. The whole thing was Very Online. Who cares? All throughout the past few months, Youngs fans have papered his Facebook wall with loving messages. At the same time, building himself up as a renegade nurse practitioner seems to have allowed Young to sweep his faults under the rug of unconventionality. They entered the office and ordered the clinics staffers to lie on the floor. I dont. Stephanie had been in an abusive relationship and dealt with a slew of other traumas. Hed wandered off into the woods. a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. 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. He never admitted to anything that would make him look bad. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. As Young collected more tattoos and befriended more local bands, he began to attract a certain clientele. Actually very nice, yeah. 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. Naylor: And I remember him saying, Bring him to the office. Wear a short skirt and no panties.. 1986-present. One admitted that Young had flirted with her. The patients of the nurse practitioner and aspiring reality star Jeffrey Young say he helped them like nobody else could. This striking 6ft 3in person embodies kanji tattoos on his biceps, and the effortlessly cool personality will describe how one sees him. I visited Youngs clinic, but, through a staffer, he declined to speak with me. They painted a picture of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to hang out. The clinics aim would be to halt the parade of miseriesheart attacks, early deaths, hospital billsbrought on by the obesity epidemic. 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. He didnt mind saying a curse word or two.. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is currently in jail awaiting trial. (Fades under.). 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. Its light and upbeat.). (Fades under.). A staffer, who declined to talk on the record, asked me why I was writing about him. In another, he totters around with an empty bottle of bourbon and pans the camera over to Phillips, who is asleep on the couch. 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. And hed stream from inside the clinic sometimes. Dont worry, my tattoos dont like you either, one image reads. But the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I started to realize that Jeff has a point. His black shirt collar didnt quite hide the tattoos on the back of his neck. Khazan: LaRhonda was skepticalbut she was also dealing with a lot of pain. Aggressive marketing is one piece of it. Young: Listen, I am for the patient. Why would you go to this doctor? (In response to a request for comment, a health-department spokesperson noted that, according to state law, the department cant suspend medical licenses without first giving practitioners the opportunity to demonstrate compliance regarding the allegations against them. His wife also loves animals and works in the same clinic. 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. 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. Patients say the Rock Doc helped them like no one else could. Be part of The Experiment. Thats not my fucking problem, all right? Khazan: LeAnn Naylor was the secretary for the mayor of Jackson when she started seeing Jeff as a patient. His vision was, evidently, to one day launch a reality series of the same name. He would try to squeeze in even more patient visits each daysometimes well over 50, former employees sayand would either forget to document services or would document services he hadnt provided. Khazan: Her husband had severe dehydration and was suffering from a heat stroke. Off camera, Young allegedly prescribed 1.4 million addictive pills and had sex with female patients. Calles: Doctors judged me because of my weight. Purdue ad doctor: They dont wear out. The grosser side. Other doctors dont post pictures of themselves with motorcycles and scantily clad women, either. 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. Young had an active channel on Periscope, where he and Phillips drank and waxed philosophical. Young: Hi, my name is Jeff Young. Phillips, Youngs best friend, would often stop by the clinic to hang out and drink, according to former employees. What a great, great, great, great song! (The music crescendos before playing out into the break. Khazan: Which was exactly what she liked about him. Furthermore, Dr. Young along with his wife and daughter Melody works at his clinic. The allegations, when they started coming, though, really started coming fast. Young: So Im gonna not have a cigar. Multiple surveys show that people tend to trust health-care workers more than they trust many other professionals, including police officers and clergy members. She wasnt the only patient to stick by him. Khazan: But the pilot also showed the other side of Jeff. Instead, Young began by kicking Reitz out of the business, Reitz told me. Im very shocked. 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. 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. Rock Doc pilot testimonial: (Over heavy rock music.) 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. Supposedly candid confessions from Young about his life are interspersed with complimentary interviews with patients. One patient she knew kept a cane in the trunk of her car and visited doctors offices with it in order to appear disabled so she could get more pills. (A long moment of music with no narration before it fades out. ), Khazan: So doctors were kind of like, Okay.. 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. After the hearing, Young was jailed pending his trial, which is currently scheduled to be held this spring. Young appeared to operate more subtly. Im too good for you because I got this money, or whatever. Khazan: The Rock Doc, Jeff Young, has been in jail for almost two years, awaiting trial. With a heavy Mercy me, Phillips produces a pair of womens panties from a bag. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. Thrash metal, heavy metal, speed metal, blues, classical. (Laughs heartily.). 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. And Jeff, sitting at the center of it, covered in tattooshe had a sort of unlikely charisma too. He found diseases, for example, that other doctors missed. Sometimes he wore scrubs, but most of the time he had on jeans, scrub tops, and a rock T-shirt, and a doctors jacket. Listen to the trailer for. Young: That was what Im going to say. From that day on, he saw him for everything. Tune in today! Everybody pay fucking attention worldwide because Im about to save this motherfuckers lifelive on Periscope broadcast! Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. They dont want to touch you unless they have to touch you. Dr. Jeff is married to Petra Mickova Petra though she is his second wife. Khazan: And sometimes theyd even ask their followers and fans to back them up. You may not like what I stand for. Calles: I dont know. They described Young to me as intelligent, as knowing almost as much as a doctor would knowor maybe even more. Occupation (s) Guitarist. Trial dates have been set for "Rock Doc" Jeffery Young, his supervising physicians, and two more medical professionals recently indicted on additional drug trafficking charges. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. FNP Jeff Young Jr. shares his life with his fans and promotes a healthy and fun lifestyle to make you "young" at heart! was found dead of an apparent overdose. Even after this, she returned to Young as a patient. Longoria: And what part of the crisis were you most focused on? Calles: Oh my gosh. Khazan: Even LaRhonda, the retired teacher who had soured on Jeff, told me that Jeff was the rare provider who would take her pain seriously. You may not like my tattoos. Heres what I can tell you about the JY2, all right? Patel left soon after. This distinction is important, because while nurse practitioners are functioning in the same capacity as physiciansordering and interpreting MY died on August 25, 2015, from an apparent drug overdose. I had had back surgery, and I really had real problems that no one wanted to listen to me about. Naylor: Yes, he does. About four years after its investigation began, the nursing board finally held a hearing to consider his fate. Many people in Jackson seemed to see themselves in Young. The waiting room often overflowed with patients. He did know exactly what to talk to him about to make him feel at ease, and he impressed that grumpy old man so much that that was his primary-care doctor and the only doctor he would see. (The drugmaker that is most often blamed for the epidemic doesnt agree with this assessment: Suggesting that activities that last occurred more than 16 years ago are responsible for todays complex and multifaceted opioid crisis is deeply flawed, a Purdue Pharma spokesperson, Robert Josephson, said in a statement to The New York Times for a story on this issue.). Like many actual rock stars, he flamed out on his own extravagant lifestyle. Rather than suffer any real consequences for his allegedly reckless prescribing, Young continued to work as a medical provider for years. The allegations against Young seemed to take a toll on him, though. But I was willing to overlook all that, you know? Updated at 10:28 p.m. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for "money, notoriety, and sexual favors." Young's case provides a rare gl 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. He tried to ignore it, but when he woke up the next morning, LeAnn noticed he still looked really bad. Thirty minutes. And I remember texting him back, and I remember saying, Jeff, he is a grumpy, old, country man, and hes not going to be an easy patient, but something is terribly wrong. And he said, I got that covered too. So I get my husband up there. By 2012, Young was allegedly supplying testosterone without a clear medical reason to high schoolers who wanted to bulk up. Sound design by David Herman. Thank you for listening. In July 2016, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation began looking into allegations that Young was overprescribing opioids. But he, uh He was true to himself; lets say that. Khazan: I was wondering if your ex-husband still supports Jeff or thinks he was a good medical provider. Hes just laid back. And even then, I didnt want to hear it. And whats remarkable about the Rock Doc is that he streamed his private interactions with patients online. 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. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. (The music changes tone, becoming a little more up-tempo and treble-heavy.). 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. Young: (Moaning.) Khazan: And some of what she saw really weirded her out. Apparently she felt strongly enough about it that he wouldnt leave her alone if she went to see him. Of the women who returned my calls, none wanted to speak on the record under her real name, but all denied that Young had sexually abused them. In recent years, the Justice Department has started coming for unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists, too. Youngs case provides a rare glimpse into the ways patients wind up addicted to the powerful painkillers fueling the national opioid epidemic. The Experiment is a co-production of The Atlantic and WNYC Studios. When PreventaGenix closed, Young was alleged to have failed to pay part of the unemployment insurance, federal tax withholdings, and final payroll for the clinic, according to a lawsuit filed by his former partners, Reitz and Patel. Of course other doctors dont write as many prescriptions, the implication seemed to be. Young was late to the office almost every day. And the word that kept coming up when people described Jeff is comfortable. Looking for Jeff Young online? 40 members in the TDBauto community. 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. She became his patient around 2016. And Im like, Oh. [A beat.] Naylor: I felt like he was being treated unfairlythat maybe he had even been set up. Young: Very nice. But Young soon revealed a blustering personality that started to overwhelm the team project. M.Y. [Khazan laughs.] One of his patients, Helena Louvaris, told me that Young saved her life by putting her on a diet plan. Its joined at points by a line of harmony played on a synthesizer.). Jeff wanted what was best for his patient. Thats the only way you can describe it. As the court spent two days scrutinizing his years of alleged misdeeds, he sat mostly silently. Well all be killed., It helped that Young had prominent friends he could call on for help. PreventaGenix, with its Doric columns and grand portico, appeared to preside over the rest. (Lo-fi synthesizer music plays up. 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? On April 17, 2019, officials swept through Appalachia, charging 53 medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Country music lyrics, guitar tabs/tablatures, chords source #1. How was a nurse practitioner whose behavior was so outrageous allowed to treat patients for so long? (Topix has since been shut down.) Editing by Katherine Wells, Julia Longoria, and Denise Wills. Khazan: Christi had really appreciated what Jeff did for her. Once again, there was an outpouring of support. 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. 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. Yet he still attracted patients at GeneXis prior to his detention hearing in May 2019. At this point, the people of Jackson knew the full extent of officials suspicions about Young. The cost of producing the Rock Doc pilot, about $2,000, was entirely paid for by the clinic, Gutgsell claimed in a deposition. The next year, Jeff prescribed M.Y. They are often too under-resourced and understaffed to keep a watchful eye on all medical providers. Hows it going? One of them was that I had the story all wrong. 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. In 2018, a woman told police that Young put his hands down her pants during an office visit, but that apparently led to nothing. But she also told me the story of her ex-husband. He helped her a lot with her pain. They do not have serious medical side effects. Khazan: Tanya had a different theory about where all the criticism was actually coming from. Lots of people refused to talk to me because they fear Young, but many others refused because they love him. Rudins lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Khazan: He had an account on Periscope, the live-streaming site. I told him about this podcastexplained to him what a podcast was. And I said, And they say that youre trading sex for medication. He was like, You know, these motherfuckers lie all the damn time. 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