Young did seem to be famous enough in Jackson, however, to reinforce his own grand vision of himself. A Professional theme for architects, construction and interior designers As the court spent two days scrutinizing his years of alleged misdeeds, he sat mostly silently. Despite the accumulation of evidence suggesting that Young was running his practice recklessly and endangering patients, he remained licensed to write prescriptions for five years after PreventaGenix opened its doors. Branding himself the Rock Doc in a self-produced reality-TV pilot, Young would wear band T-shirts and blast music as he met with patients; he sometimes broadcast appointments and medical procedures on the live-streaming app Periscope. The self-proclaimed "Rock Doc" is accused of trading powerful . Fact-check by Michelle Ciarrocca and Jack Segelstein. He wasnt in pain. Young: Hi, my name is Jeff Young. Hes a great doctor and never has he acted any way towards me but professional! one woman wrote. 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. And Jeff, sitting at the center of it, covered in tattooshe had a sort of unlikely charisma too. 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. 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. Watching this makes me really sad, one YouTube user commented on the Rock Doc pilot in 2019. She would get phone calls at her house, answer, and hear only strange whispers, she said in a court hearing. 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. An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. (Patel did not respond to requests for comment.) The Rock Doc affectations, Louvaris said, merely show that hes different from other doctors. We put out calls and emails to dozens of Jeff Youngs patients. Of course other doctors dont write as many prescriptions, the implication seemed to be. Patients say the Rock Doc helped them like no one else could. His vision was, evidently, to one day launch a reality series of the same name. 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. You may not like my tattoos. People who criticized Young swiftly became his enemies. Always have been for the patient. Purdue voice-over: Often, it will be an opioid medication. But that did not put a stop to Youngs ambitions. Young would call these liaisons nooners or say it was tap-that-ass Tuesday, according to court testimony. Updated at 10:28 p.m. So what, I dont go get fucked up at the country club with the rest of the stiffs here in J-Town? Rudins lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. The clinics aim would be to halt the parade of miseriesheart attacks, early deaths, hospital billsbrought on by the obesity epidemic. As Young collected more tattoos and befriended more local bands, he began to attract a certain clientele. 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. Oh, look, I got a new haircut today (Fades under.). This episode was reported by Olga Khazan and produced by Alvin Melathe. Some female patients opted for a service the clinic offered that Young called VIP status, in which they paid $500 a year to skip the waiting room and get Youngs cellphone number, one former employee said. Khazan: Do you remember what kind of music was playing? They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. He refilled MYs prescriptions for Percocet and Valium, and also prescribed him hydrocodone. Ultimately, what hastened Youngs downfall is that some of the female patients asking him for drugs were undercover officers. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. Its gonna be a little cold, all right? Youngs second marriage was already in trouble by the time PreventaGenix launched, and after his divorce he quickly found new girlfriends. The clinic sat on a quiet road crammed with other medical practicesa sleep doctor, a dentist, a nephrologist, an orthodontisteach in its own . The man says if he were ever shot, he would go to Young before going to the hospital. Heres what I can tell you. (Fades under.). Because he prescribed my opiates, and I took them as prescribed, and I had no problems with it. 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. Several people suggested suing for defamation a news station that reported on the incident. Young was a people pleaser, as one former employee described him. Naylor: My husband hadnt been to a doctor in years. If a patient would text him a compliment, he would blast it all over Facebook, one former employee told me. Phillips, Youngs best friend, would often stop by the clinic to hang out and drink, according to former employees. Though both she and Reaves said Young should be held accountable for anything he did wrong, Stephanie told me that she forgave him. 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 . The agents seized about 350 of Youngs patient charts and every computer in the office, according to Gutgsell, the former office manager, and the notice of seizure states that about 10,000 individual doses of hydrocodone were also taken. To have a medical provider be polite to you, accept you, maybe even dig through your charts to find the root cause of your ailmentsit can be validating. You may not like my piercings. Fullington, who was also let go, told me she got a threatening call from Young. Young was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in April 2019. They painted a picture of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to hang out. She doesnt believe the allegations against him, and chalks them up to pure jealousy. Khazan: The Rock Doc, Jeff Young, has been in jail for almost two years, awaiting trial. But the allegations against him point toward what can be permissible, even celebrated, in a medical system built on profit. And people in the pilot gave testimonials saying as much. The scenes are meant to serve as a testament to the effectiveness of Youngs work hard, play harder ethos. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. Even now, I cant say that. (Young has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 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. Young seemed to have been expecting them. If you speak against me, she remembers him saying, youre gonna regret it.. Its a shame, he told me, that Young got into so much legal trouble; think of all the people he might have helped. Its a small town; people talk. Khazan: Tanya had a different theory about where all the criticism was actually coming from. 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. I had a brother that passed away, and when he passed away, his friends played that for him at his funeral. One other factor might help account for his long, illicit career: the sheer number of patients who stood by him, almost to the very end. But the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I started to realize that Jeff has a point. Khazan: Because I couldnt talk to Jeff, Ive spent more hours than I want to admit combing through his Periscope videos, trying to understand this man. So, no, I cant say that. They would shut off the power so they had an excuse to close the clinic on those days. 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. Khazan: So Ive written a million stories about this. 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.). This distinction is important, because while nurse practitioners are functioning in the same capacity as physiciansordering and interpreting 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. Naylor: They just immediately hit it off. In 2011, the couple got in a fight while visiting Panama City Beach, Florida, and it was determined that Young did throw, or shove, Mrs. Young from the bed to the floor, the police report reads. Naylor: (A long beat and a breath.) Why would you go to this doctor? Thats not my fucking problem, all right? 13.6k members in the AutoNewspaper community. To deal with the latter, the city, like so many others in America, has become ever more reliant on opioids. The allegations, when they started coming, though, really started coming fast. a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. She texted Jeff. 2,760 Followers, 1,655 Following, 2,046 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Jeff Young II (JY2) #RockDoc (@jeffyoungii) This is Aalto. PreventaGenix, with its Doric columns and grand portico, appeared to preside over the rest. Young began arriving at the clinic smelling rancid, with greasy hair, and the clinics money problems mounted. Be part of The Experiment. Jeff refilled M.Y.s prescriptions for Percocet and Valium and gave him a new one for hydrocodone. Naylor: (A sharp inhale.) According to a medical-board report, one employee recalled Young having sex in his office with a patient who appeared to be drugged; when Young left, she was passed out on the couch. For the cosmetically minded, he hosted alcohol-fueled Botox parties. Have you ever been to a doctor and you just didnt feel comfortable? Some of Youngs dalliances with his patient-friends similarly took a dark turn. (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. Phillips popped off to a friend.). Why would you go to this doctor? All right, guys. Young grabs them and takes a big whiff. Young: (Serious, and a little angry.) Young cries at his sons fifth-grade graduation, then explains that hes so emotional because his nurses are having their periods. Rumors started to spread in town that strange things were going on in Jeffs office. Alperovichs lawyer declined to comment.). Khazan: But the pilot also showed the other side of Jeff. Calles: Oh my gosh. Another said, I was thinking of you today and how much you have helped me.. He found diseases, for example, that other doctors missed. PreventaGenix had a back door, and before long employees started noticing that some female patients would come in through it and go directly to Youngs office. I mean, if somebody pats you on the back, that aint coming on to you. was found dead of an apparent overdose. Khazan: To me, this felt immature, but it was all part of the brand. Whenever he ran into trouble, his fans would fill his social-media feeds with pledges of support. But Young soon revealed a blustering personality that started to overwhelm the team project. Khazan: So, like, that doctor-patient interaction and how the opioids actually got prescribed. This ingratiating tendency allegedly extended to handing out prescriptions. 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. Khazan: Does that change how you feel about him? Hey, are you paying attention? Yeah. Young neither admits nor denies the following allegations, Tracy Alcock, a lawyer with the state health department, said at the hearing, but he acknowledges that the departments proof would show the following: From August 2013 to November 2016, Young prescribed controlled substances in amounts and for durations that were not medically necessary, advisable, or justified for a diagnosed condition. The board put his license on probation for two years, during which time he could not prescribe certain Schedule II or Schedule III controlled substances, including drugs such as oxycodone, fentanyl, Vicodin, and Adderall. The clinic sat on a quiet road crammed with other medical practicesa sleep doctor, a dentist, a nephrologist, an orthodontisteach in its own brick McMansion. Many told me that they didnt want to talk on the record. 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. LeAnn said that Jeff stayed for hours, changing IV bags and chatting with him. Supposedly candid confessions from Young about his life are interspersed with complimentary interviews with patients. The half-dozen former patients who did agree to talk with me were mostly people who wanted to defend Jeff. 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. The judge denied this request, in part because, he wrote, Young has chosen to not wear a mask or practice social distancing consistently in jail., In September, Gutgsell, Youngs former office manager, pleaded guilty to federal charges for her involvement in prescribing opioids without a legitimate medical purpose.*. Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. 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? She wasnt the only patient to stick by him. I am sick of people only judging you by what you do in your personal life, one woman wrote on his Facebook page in September 2016, when Young was charged with assault after a woman claimed that he had screamed at her in the parking lot of his office. MY died on August 25, 2015, from an apparent drug overdose. They didnt have tattoos. (The music opens up into a technologic rainforest as synthesizers mimic birdsong.). Khazan: Which was exactly what she liked about him. And even then, I didnt want to hear it. Once his colleagues were out of the business, Young began crafting a persona based around rock music and hard living. The DEA raided Jeffs clinic and seized all of his computers and thousands of doses of the opioid hydrocodone. All rights reserved. Young: So, the, uh, the sinister ministerthat would be me (Fades under again.). Several others dismissed the notion that Young could be sexually coercive. His Rock Doc persona helped him connect with patients who might never have felt comfortable in a traditional doctors office. He remarried in 2006. This is just gonna be a little freeze spray first. Automated News Feed Subreddit No Censorship, Just News. He was found in his bedroom, where the ambulance service discovered an empty syringe under his pillow and empty pill bottles on his bedside table that had been filled that month. Never give up God is full of second chances, one woman wrote. Former employees speculated that he met the women in bars. 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. Other doctors dont post pictures of themselves with motorcycles and scantily clad women, either. Health care is one of the Jackson areas most important industries, and West Tennessee Healthcare, which once employed Young, is the largest employer in the county. One person with knowledge of the case gave me a list of several women who, the person believed, were having sex with Young in exchange for drugs. Years active. He seemed, to his former employees, constitutionally unable to deny patients the pills they wanted, even if it was the last thing they needed. (Somber, reflective droning notes play up. 0:06. (Young has denied that hed had sex with the patient who appeared to be drugged.). Scott Deberry: Everyone in his office was all white. Tanya Ballard: I think people are Just didnt like Jeff. So, uh, here we are, sitting by the pool. Jackson, Tennessee. 14:46. We got a very, uh, important (Fades under.). But he, uh He was true to himself; lets say that. The next year, Jeff prescribed M.Y. Scott Deberry: I just didnt like all the bickering on social media and in that newspaper. Will be glad to take the balance out of your ass. He asked another patient, to whom he prescribed the opioid hydrocodone, to come in for a checkup the following day and wear a short skirt and no panties., Young was sometimes even more direct. You may not like my rock and roll. Longoria: And one of those worst of the worst providers stood out from the others. Some people from the area said they had been harassed by Jeff and were afraid to speak out. Throughout the opioid epidemic, a distressing number of doctors have seen a perverse opportunity in Americans suffering. Rather than suffer any real consequences for his allegedly reckless prescribing, Young continued to work as a medical provider for years. You may not like me. So hes a little out there. (Fades under.). (Droning music, reflective and cool, plays.). ), (What sounds like road noise plays in the background of a Periscope clip. So what? I mean, he had his doctors lab coat on. Naylor: And I remember him saying, Bring him to the office. Not all of them were into the whole edgy hard-rock thing at first. And you can kind of look at it like locker-room talk . (A moment of narrative silence. I dont. They didnt drop F-bombs or smell womens underwear online. Khazan: LeAnns story was similar to Tanyas and LaRhondas and Christis. Together, they are the parents of three children and have seven grandchildren. Young: Very nice. Purdue ad doctor: They dont wear out. (Laughs heartily.). No one else seemed capable of treating all her problemsthroat swelling, high blood pressure, attention issues. ), (The intro to a rock song plays, with a driving, pulsing beat. * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. 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. The next morning, the office manager, Kristie Gutgsell, would clean up after them. So you got to be a good judge of character. Young benefited from an almost reflexive societal trust in the medical profession. Some of the pills had been prescribed by Young. Others accused me of seeking to discredit Young and slander his name. As the nursing boards investigation of Young inched along, another agency launched its own probe into the Rock Doc. And were gonna send a message. They called it the single largest crackdown on prescription opioids in history. 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. Certain clientele automated News Feed Subreddit no Censorship, just News media and in newspaper. The allegations, when they started coming, though, really started coming, though really! Patients asking him for drugs were undercover officers, here we are, by. A million stories about this for him at his sons fifth-grade graduation, then that... Died on August 25, 2015, from an almost reflexive societal in. That he met the women in bars throughout the opioid epidemic, a benzodiazepine, when. 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