The former patient told me she became afraid to leave her house. The entire epidemic has been an unending story of doctors, pharmaceutical executives, and public officials blithely ignoring signs of danger. What a great, great, great, great song! Khazan: The videos were sarcastic and loose, intimate in their own bizarre way. Youre just probably not feeling good. But they never believed us. Yeah, thats prettythats very distressing. Heres what I can tell you about the JY2, all right? He made them feel comfortable in a way that no other doctor did. 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. Young grabs them and takes a big whiff. When one video was apparently manipulated by one of his detractors and posted online, Young threatened whoever might have done it. They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. The scenes are meant to serve as a testament to the effectiveness of Youngs work hard, play harder ethos. He was the casual party guy, not the stuffy doctor. 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. 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.] But maybe, just maybe, he showed too much. It was just rocked out. 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. You can all suck my dick! he yells at the camera in one Periscope video, a stethoscope around his neck and a cigar in his hand. Young had an active channel on Periscope, where he and Phillips drank and waxed philosophical. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information. You may not like me. Aggressive marketing is one piece of it. 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. Khazan: LaRhonda Scott Deberry is a 54-year-old former teacher who lives in Memphis. 14:46. Were small enough where we still talk, Jerry Gist, who was the mayor at the time, told me. He would sometimes brag about having sex on his lunch break, sharing with his staff pictures of his conquests, three employees said. So, no, I cant say that. 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. He invited a cameraman to document his life and eventually had it edited into a pilot for a reality-TV show. Calles: Yes. And people in the pilot gave testimonials saying as much. the rock doc' jeff young. They liked his plainspoken approach to medicine, a profession typically associated with jargon and elitism. Even now, I cant say that. Over that time, his online following grew. In addition to steroid shots, Young prescribed her oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall for her various medical issues. Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. But they helped create the opioid crisis all the same. Then it fades out.). You know that. Supposedly candid confessions from Young about his life are interspersed with complimentary interviews with patients. 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. Still, the citys southernness peeks through. Khazan: Ive talked to a lot of patients over the years who feel very uncomfortable around their doctors. Patients say the Rock Doc helped them like no one else could. When it was getting close to the end of when I was going, it would be packed. One admitted that Young had flirted with her. Khazan: Do you feel like Jeff has done more harm than good? Though criminal cases against doctors and nurse practitioners like Young are still relatively rare, they are growing more common. He decked out PreventaGenix with psychedelic artwork and set the stereo to loud rock. To deal with the latter, the city, like so many others in America, has become ever more reliant on opioids. They are often too under-resourced and understaffed to keep a watchful eye on all medical providers. Young: So Im gonna not have a cigar. Not that theyre not watching internet porn. (A long moment of music with no narration before it fades out. Scott Deberry: Everyone in his office was all white. You ready? Young was a people pleaser, as one former employee described him. Jackson Sun. 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. 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. And the word that kept coming up when people described Jeff is comfortable. Early in the epidemic, Purdue gave doctors OxyContin fishing hats and swing-music CDs to encourage them to prescribe more of the drug. 1986-present. Copyright 2021 The Atlantic and New York Public Radio. 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 seemed to have been expecting them. 1,274 likes. 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. Why didnt anyone try to put a stop to this? I just had a lot of questions about how could this happen, you know? 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 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. Its light and upbeat.). Minutes after finishing the second drink, Stephanie fell face-first onto the floor. Young: Whats up, my friend? Its gonna be a little cold, all right? But he, uh He was true to himself; lets say that. Im in the middle of a life-saving procedure here. 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. Khazan: To me, this felt immature, but it was all part of the brand. And were gonna send a message. They called it the single largest crackdown on prescription opioids in history. Doctors, in theory, would only prescribe to people who needed the drugs and would monitor patients so they wouldnt get addicted. And you can kind of look at it like locker-room talk . Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. The manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids have been sued by dozens of states and municipalities for the damage theyve allegedly caused. The next morning, the office manager, Kristie Gutgsell, would clean up after them. (Youngs attorney claimed in court that only about 25 percent of his patients were.) Im too good for you because I got this money, or whatever. Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. The camera follows Young as he treats patients, talks on a local radio station, dances with women at a club, and brags about drinking. 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. Khazan: Anyone online could watch him, say, biopsy someones skin while listening to hard rock. 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. This episode was reported by Olga Khazan and produced by Alvin Melathe. Kevin: Jeff and I are full of antics. You may not like my rock and roll. Khazan: In 2016, Jeff tried to broadcast his world even more widely. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? (Droning music, reflective and cool, plays.). Do you feel safe with Mr. Young being out there? a prosecutor on the case, Andrew Pennebaker, asked Pickering in court. Every single time I went to that doctor and I left, Stairway to Heaven played. Khazan: In the pilot, he presents himself as more of a friend than a medical professional. He never admitted to anything that would make him look bad. The lack of oversight in the Young case is in keeping with practices seen throughout the opioid crisis. His wife also loves animals and works in the same clinic. Right? Sound design by David Herman. Not that theyre not cheating on their wives. Nurse practitioner Jeff Young, known as the "Rock Doc," and . In May 2019, shortly after Young was indicted, I traveled to Jackson to try to understand the place that gave rise to the Rock Doc. So you got to be a good judge of character. Despite some patients praise for Young, the evidence that he routinely walked far over that line remains alarming. He graduated from Union University, an evangelical Christian school, in 1995, then earned a degree from the University of Tennessee College of Nursing in 2003. She would get phone calls at her house, answer, and hear only strange whispers, she said in a court hearing. 0:04. They entered the office and ordered the clinics staffers to lie on the floor. was found dead of an apparent overdose. You may not like my rock and roll, you may not like my piercings, you may not like my sexy-ass beard, but you know what? You may not like my piercings. Dr. Jeff is married to Petra Mickova Petra though she is his second wife. Hes just laid back. He was always polite. Calles: I just wasnt getting the care I needed. Music by Tasty Morsels and Nelson Nance. 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. But the allegations against him point toward what can be permissible, even celebrated, in a medical system built on profit. (Dawn did not press charges at the time, and she declined to speak with me for this story.). 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. 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. No one could quite tell me who or what was responsible for Youngs transformation. Young cared for all kinds of people, some of whom didnt have money or health insurance. Heres what I can tell you. Nurse practitioners have played a key role in Tennessees opioid epidemic. Khazan: Jeff had been good to Tanya in the clinic, which was an experience that she didnt usually have with doctors. Yeah. 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. Khazan: Looking at all the allegations, I mean, its overprescribingoverprescribing to someone whose pill bottles had his name on them and who died of a drug overdose. Young grew up in Bethel Springs, a 700-person village near Jackson. Young: (Over hard-rock music.) 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. 0:06. At the beginning of the opioid epidemic, the autonomy of doctors to prescribe opioids was almost limitless, Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University professor who researches mental-health policy, says. And most doctors youve seen, they give off this persona as like, Im too cool. Khazan: I had a lot of Why on earth? questions: Why would he do this? Dang, Jeff What happened? Helena Louvaris and Melanie Lupino, two of Youngs staunch defenders, both declined to speak with me when I called them back to see if they still supported him after he was jailed. In the past two decades, overdoses involving prescription opioids have killed more than 232,000 peoplethe population of Jackson several times overand the major players in the epidemic are finally being held to account. This is just gonna be a little freeze spray first. [A moment of indistinct crosstalk.] Im very shocked. RockDocTV Show. A Professional theme for architects, construction and interior designers This is Aalto. Obesity and diabetes are rampant; so is chronic pain. Some of his patients were police officers whom he would occasionally ask for favors. During one club night, Young bought Stephanie two drinks and his friends handed them to her. Youngs second marriage was already in trouble by the time PreventaGenix launched, and after his divorce he quickly found new girlfriends. Yall partying in the office? [Chuckles.] Alperovichs lawyer declined to comment.). Khazan: Like, for example, here he is sniffing a pair of womens underwear with his sidekick, a friend named Kevin. His vision was, evidently, to one day launch a reality series of the same name. Thats okay. Young: (Moaning.) People who criticized Young swiftly became his enemies. It wasnt like any medical office Id ever been to. This social-media stardom appears to have helped inoculate him against concerns that his loose approach to medicine could harm anyone. You need to be a certain kind of person to want a reality-TV show about yourself. This ingratiating tendency allegedly extended to handing out prescriptions. 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. Were going to take the worst of the worst. (The music opens up into a technologic rainforest as synthesizers mimic birdsong.). So it was kind of significant to me. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. I swear he didnt look at my leg for 30 seconds, and he told me exactly what it was, he says. He would still be allowed to prescribe testosterone and cough syrup with codeine, however. He even convinced her to get weight-loss surgery. Sometimes he wore scrubs, but most of the time he had on jeans, scrub tops, and a rock T-shirt, and a doctors jacket. But Young was eager to let the world know that he was no typical nurse practitioner. 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. Hed also given her tips on how to eat better and how to lose weight. In 2018, a woman told police that Young put his hands down her pants during an office visit, but that apparently led to nothing. Longoria: Pharmaceutical companies marketed these drugs aggressively to 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. In fact, he avoided doctors at all costs. They go on working. Tanya Ballard: I think people are Just didnt like Jeff. 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.). Khazan: When Jeffs indictment became public, LeAnnlike many of his former patientswas suspicious at first. 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