Some sought counseling, slept under their beds, or carried guns. Every time. During one club night, Young bought Stephanie two drinks and his friends handed them to her. Yeah, thats prettythats very distressing. Listen to the trailer for, The Hard-Partying, Rock-Obsessed Nurse at the Center of a Massive Opioid Bust. He was always polite. 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. Were taking next week off to work on new stories, but well be back with new episodes starting April 15. 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.). Together, they are the parents of three children and have seven grandchildren. Other doctors dont post pictures of themselves with motorcycles and scantily clad women, either. And no education whatsoever, Phillips jokes. Young seemed to have been expecting them. At other times, PreventaGenix staffers would stumble upon a woman he had brought to the clinic the previous night. Were going to take the worst of the worst. 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. 1986-present. Khazan: Or stitch someone up after they cut themselves on a wine glass. The clinics aim would be to halt the parade of miseriesheart attacks, early deaths, hospital billsbrought on by the obesity epidemic. He would chitchat with his patients, ask them about their latest tattoos. Do you feel safe with Mr. Young being out there? a prosecutor on the case, Andrew Pennebaker, asked Pickering in court. 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. Be part of The Experiment. When the local news station, WBBJ, posted a story about Youngs case on Facebook, the usual chorus of defenders raised their voices. (Youngs attorney claimed in court that only about 25 percent of his patients were.) In February 2016, he texted one of his opioid patients, a police officer named Jay Green. Young became known for putting drugs into the hands of almost anyone who asked. Know his wife, age, net worth, family, Khazan: LeAnns story was similar to Tanyas and LaRhondas and Christis. Khazan: I talked to many of Jeffs patients. The resulting videos are typical scenes from a medical practicepeople donning gloves, waiting in chairsspliced together over a heavy-metal soundtrack. I swear he didnt look at my leg for 30 seconds, and he told me exactly what it was, he says. Young got married, then quickly got divorced, according to several people who knew him then. Theyre standoffish towards you. Then it rewinds into nothingness.). 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. The men each contributed $40,000 to the endeavor. States largely rely on medical boards to regulate practitioners, but these entities have a reputation for leniency. About four years after its investigation began, the nursing board finally held a hearing to consider his fate. Christi Calles lived 30 miles away in Lexington. I dont wear underwear. Branding himself as the "Rock Doc," he flooded his social media accounts with images of a party-loving lifestyle, vitriol for his "haters" and even a pilot episode for a reality TV show . Automated News Feed Subreddit No Censorship, Just News. Khazan: But the pilot also showed the other side of Jeff. Khazan: The videos were sarcastic and loose, intimate in their own bizarre way. All of them said that they didnt think Jeff sexually abused them. Khazan: He had an account on Periscope, the live-streaming site. 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. 0:04. Khazan: Does that change how you feel about him? Young: Even get all gussied up for tonight. Fact-check by Michelle Ciarrocca and Jack Segelstein. Thats the big joke. When it was getting close to the end of when I was going, it would be packed. One agent testified in court that the bureau had uncovered Facebook messages such as one sent to Young in August 2016 by someone known in court as SW: My girl for eight years is an addict You write her any more scripts youre going to kill her, man. Meanwhile, many of Youngs patient charts had allegedly stopped being monitored: One supervising physician came in once, reviewed Youngs charts, and withdrew from the supervising agreement immediately based on what he saw. [Khazan laughs, then Calles emphasizes each word that follows.] A Professional theme for architects, construction and interior designers Yes. Rather than call for help, Young walked away and left me on the ground, she told me. [Laughs lightly.] In April 2019, he was indicted on drug-trafficking charges, along with five other medical providers in Jackson, two of whom were the supervising physicians Young, as a nurse practitioner, was required to have. Nearly a fifth of the citys residents live below the poverty line, and many are afflicted with chronic diseases that often accompany the stresses of a low income. 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. He was like a friend. This social-media stardom appears to have helped inoculate him against concerns that his loose approach to medicine could harm anyone. Young: (Serious, and a little angry.) Patients say the Rock Doc helped them like no one else could. So, no, I cant say that. (Ringing leads into a soft, humming organ song.). I didnt know that. 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. Whats up kids? The half-dozen former patients who did agree to talk with me were mostly people who wanted to defend Jeff. He remarried in 2006. Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. The resulting addictions were blamed on reckless patients, rather than the fundamental chemistry of the opioids themselves. The lack of oversight in the Young case is in keeping with practices seen throughout the opioid crisis. It really meant a lot to me. So, uh, here we are, sitting by the pool. (A moment of narrative silence. Calles: I mean, you have killersmurderers, I meanthat have not been in jail this long. 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. Nurse practitioners have played a key role in Tennessees opioid epidemic. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for money, notoriety, and sexual favors.. Not that theyre not cheating on their wives. He exhibited a certain tenderness as he filled syringes and sutured skin. They go on working. Sometimes patients seeking opioids go to different providers until they find one who is willing to prescribe to them. the rock doc' jeff young. [A moment of indistinct crosstalk.] There is a friendliness, too, that one associates with the South. 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. Throughout Youngs year-long treatment of MY, Young failed to conduct pill counts, consult a state database meant to monitor the dispensing of controlled substances, and discuss with MY the risks of combining these drugs, according to the document. Thats okay. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. Will be glad to take the balance out of your ass. To another, Jeff asked, You want to come by for a checkup tomorrow? They painted a picture of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to hang out. Before long, the three men hatched a plan to found a network of health clinics that would check patients cholesterol levels and offer diet and exercise advice. (Stephanie asked me to use a pseudonym for her because she doesnt want her name associated with the case.) (Dawn did not press charges at the time, and she declined to speak with me for this story.). And people in the pilot gave testimonials saying as much. Ill meet you there. Young would continue to prescribe drugs there for two more years. 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. I had a lot of Why on earth? questions, the Atlantic reporter Olga Khazan says. Whether or not Young is convicted, the perverse incentives for doctors to see patients for short visits and to prescribe too many unnecessary drugs will remain. But the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I started to realize that Jeff has a point. It doesnt sound like much of a sella middle-aged man doling out medical advice in a city midway between Memphis and Nashville. He was like, No, we do Botox and stuff for people, and dah-dah-dah-dah. In another, he totters around with an empty bottle of bourbon and pans the camera over to Phillips, who is asleep on the couch. Sometimes he wore scrubs, but most of the time he had on jeans, scrub tops, and a rock T-shirt, and a doctors jacket. Hey, are you paying attention? Young began arriving at the clinic smelling rancid, with greasy hair, and the clinics money problems mounted. Young, 43, a Tennessee nurse practitioner who called himself 'Rock Doc' and once piloted . But it seemed like she wasnt the only one getting pain meds from the Rock Doc. Calles: Oh my gosh. Young: So, the, uh, the sinister ministerthat would be me (Fades under again.). Youngs second marriage was already in trouble by the time PreventaGenix launched, and after his divorce he quickly found new girlfriends. Everybody pay fucking attention worldwide because Im about to save this motherfuckers lifelive on Periscope broadcast! We thought we would close out the daythe third Periscope of the daywith a little fireside chat. So it just kind of, I guess, comforted me. They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. 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. In 2016, Young, who was 42 at the time, invited a cameraman to shoot a pilot episode about his life as a nurse practitioner in Jackson, Tennessee. Music by Parish Council (Dabbles), water feature (ariel), Arabian Prince in a UK World (The Feeling of Being on a Diet), Keyboard (Being There and My Atelier), and Column (The Art of Fun (Raj) and Sensuela), provided by Tasty Morsels. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Young was late to the office almost every day. 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. His black shirt collar didnt quite hide the tattoos on the back of his neck. He blasted heavy metal at his private practice and filled his Instagram feed with photos of himself smoking cigars. No one could quite tell me who or what was responsible for Youngs transformation. was found dead of an apparent overdose. Khazan: And Christi also told me a very similar thing as the other patients I talked to: Shes had terrible experiences with other doctors. 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. Longoria: Pharmaceutical companies marketed these drugs aggressively to doctors. One of them was that I had the story all wrong. Scott Deberry: Kinda made it start seeming like he was unprofessional. ), (What sounds like road noise plays in the background of a Periscope clip. She doesnt believe the allegations against him, and chalks them up to pure jealousy. Jeff wanted what was best for his patient. Khazan: So Ive written a million stories about this. (One employee, Karla Wright, testified later that she had never seen Young have sex with women at the office. Khazan: Like, for example, here he is sniffing a pair of womens underwear with his sidekick, a friend named Kevin. 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. Thats the only way you can describe it. Young: That was what Im going to say. ET on January 28, 2021. a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. Khazan: LaRhonda was skepticalbut she was also dealing with a lot of pain. Why would he do this? M.Y. Lets see here, shes 23, Young says. Looking for Jeff Young online? A woman I spoke with who has worked for seven doctors offices in the area estimates that about three-quarters of medical visits there result in an opioid prescription. Additional audio from Purdue Pharma, The Rock Doc TV Show, @JY2RocDoc, and Bat Pig Pictures. Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. 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. 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. The next morning, the office manager, Kristie Gutgsell, would clean up after them. And it was immediately clear that he is not your average medical provider. 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