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. He soon opened a new clinic, which he called GeneXis Health. 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. I dont wear underwear. Women were drawn to Young; he had a big house and was the first to buy everyones drink. Young: (Just after another person laughs.) So it was kind of significant to me. Rather than suffer any real consequences for his allegedly reckless prescribing, Young continued to work as a medical provider for years. He helped her a lot with her pain. Employees I spoke with said he eventually was seeing 50 to 85 patients a day, compared with about 20 for the average doctor, and most of them seemed to be on opioids. 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. Naylor: And I remember him saying, Bring him to the office. This episode was reported by Olga Khazan and produced by Alvin Melathe. 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. I dont wear underwear. (Topix has since been shut down.) Looking for Jeff Young online? Its heavy, and it loops. Because he prescribed my opiates, and I took them as prescribed, and I had no problems with it. The music plays on.). He decked out PreventaGenix with psychedelic artwork and set the stereo to loud rock. He blasted heavy metal at his private practice and filled his Instagram feed with photos of himself smoking cigars. Calles: Doctors judged me because of my weight. (Somber, reflective droning notes play up. (A snare hit plays, and the music changes tone again. Through his lawyer, Michael R. Working, Phillips did not return several requests for comment. Another said, I was thinking of you today and how much you have helped me.. In an email to The Atlantic, Working said that when it came to Phillipss actions, there was no direct threat. It wasnt like any medical office Id ever been to. Young: That was what Im going to say. Khazan: The one that caught my eye was this guy named Jeff Young, a nurse practitioner who called himself the Rock Doc, quote-unquote. Then it fades out.). The trial for "Rock Doc" Jeffrey Young, the infamous nurse practitioner from Jackson who was indicted in 2019 on drug trafficking charges and accused of . Have you ever been to a doctor and you just didnt feel comfortable? We got a very, uh, important (Fades under.). Multiple surveys show that people tend to trust health-care workers more than they trust many other professionals, including police officers and clergy members. Khazan: Anyone online could watch him, say, biopsy someones skin while listening to hard rock. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. The biggest blow came in 2019, when Jeff was indicted by the federal government for overprescribing opioids, often in order to get, quote, money, notoriety, and sexual favors., In a court hearing, investigators described several Facebook messages between Jeff and his patients, identified only by their initials. 1:32. 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. Rumors started to spread in town that strange things were going on in Jeffs office. Yall partying in the office? [Chuckles.] Off camera, Young allegedly prescribed 1.4 million addictive pills and had sex with female patients. You may not like my piercings. I told him about this podcastexplained to him what a podcast was. Throughout the opioid epidemic, a distressing number of doctors have seen a perverse opportunity in Americans suffering. I just didnt feel comfortable. During one club night, Young bought Stephanie two drinks and his friends handed them to her. The half-dozen former patients who did agree to talk with me were mostly people who wanted to defend Jeff. Khazan: I had a lot of Why on earth? questions: Why would he do this? He remarried in 2006. 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. Doctors offices make money by billing insurance companies for the services the providers perform, but it was hard to do this at PreventaGenix because the documentation for Youngs visits was so shoddy. Jeffrey Young wanted to give you a real look inside his clinic. Hes prescribing drugs that people want, another man added. Young had an active channel on Periscope, where he and Phillips drank and waxed philosophical. 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. 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. They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. Heres what I can tell you. 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. Dan Reaves, a local radio host on whose show Young occasionally appeared as part of a marketing plan, described Young as medically gifted. One former employee told me its not clear whether Young was exchanging prescriptions for sex or just giving his many girlfriends the medications they asked for. Other doctors dont post pictures of themselves with motorcycles and scantily clad women, either. 0:06. After he opened the new clinic, Youngs sexual behavior with patients allegedly continued, as did the towns willingness to ignore it. 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. 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. Young benefited from an almost reflexive societal trust in the medical profession. Scott Deberry: But after a while, when you read stuff, how many people could be wrong? A new court filing, first reported by The Tennessean last week, portrays the Rock Doc as a menacing figure at the intersection of the opioid crisis and the #MeToo movement. Were small enough where we still talk, Jerry Gist, who was the mayor at the time, told me. 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. Nurse practitioners have played a key role in Tennessees opioid epidemic. (Fades under.). Young was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in April 2019. So you got to be a good judge of character. Christi Calles: His doctors office was just rocked out. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. Listen to the trailer for. The waiting room often overflowed with patients. All of his patients I saw when I would come would be all white. Hes so cute thats my brother and my best friend, Young says, giving Phillips a gentle kiss. Khazan: He worked in the timber industry, and one day at work, he got overheated and disoriented. 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. But they helped create the opioid crisis all the same. I said, um, So what are yall doing after-hour? Actually very nice, yeah. Jeff refilled M.Y.s prescriptions for Percocet and Valium and gave him a new one for hydrocodone. Phillips, Youngs best friend, would often stop by the clinic to hang out and drink, according to former employees. Hey! He exhibited a certain tenderness as he filled syringes and sutured skin. 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. He didnt pull any punches, she said. Whatever the inspiration, his new persona was good for business. 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.. From that day on, he saw him for everything. Still, the citys southernness peeks through. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. (Fades under.). His lawyer also declined to answer any specific allegations. 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. (The two clap each others backs in a half-hug.). Occupation (s) Guitarist. The agency also searched Youngs cellphone. Wear a short skirt and no panties.. Khazan: And some of what she saw really weirded her out. 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. MY died on August 25, 2015, from an apparent drug overdose. At first, Young seemed to Reitz like an affable, outgoing dad who loved rock and practiced medicine. So hes a little out there. 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. Additional audio from Purdue Pharma, The Rock Doc TV Show, @JY2RocDoc, and Bat Pig Pictures. In the past five years, at least 40 medical providers nationwide have been accused of exchanging sex for addictive drugs. (Ringing leads into a soft, humming organ song.). An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. 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. was found dead of an apparent overdose. He has three children, two sons, and a daughter, from his first marriage. (The case did not result in a conviction.) Strippers, tattoo artists, and rock-band groupies saw a kindred spirit in Young and came to him as patients. They just, like, keep their distance from you. (Fades under.). Khazan: But the pilot also showed the other side of Jeff. But as I talked to more patients, they started saying things that really surprised me. They didnt openly harass anyone who criticized them. After the hearing, Young was jailed pending his trial, which is currently scheduled to be held this spring. There was no statement even made to the Feds. 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. Young: (Moaning.) Thats not my fucking problem, all right? 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. What a great, great, great, great song! 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.). Naylor: They would look at me and say [Dismissively. Hed wandered off into the woods. Its hard to hear or believe that the only provider whod ever been kind to youwho made you comfortablehad been accused of abusing other patients. The sharpteeth charge through and run into the rock spire and fall down. You know that. 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. Whats up kids? Olga Khazan: At the time, there wasnt a lot of limits on pharmaceutical companies being able to tell doctors that. I mean, you could just kind of tell you could trust him. This is just gonna be a little freeze spray first. Jackson, Tennessee. Oh, look, I got a new haircut today (Fades under.). 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