The lack of oversight in the Young case is in keeping with practices seen throughout the opioid crisis. 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. Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. Naylor: (A long beat and a breath.) During one club night, Young bought Stephanie two drinks and his friends handed them to her. Throughout the opioid epidemic, a distressing number of doctors have seen a perverse opportunity in Americans suffering. Young would continue to prescribe drugs there for two more years. Hey, are you paying attention? Youngs story raises the question of where care crosses into harm. 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 week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Reitz says he and his girlfriend came up with the unwieldy namea futuristic combination of prevent and genetics. I mean, I worked at a bank for 15 years, and when youve worked at a bank and youve cashed checks, you have to judge people in two seconds. Not that half of the, you know powers that be are on some sort of whatever. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. You can find Olgas written reporting on the Rock Doc at our website: http://www.theatlantic.com/experiment. 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. Do you feel safe with Mr. Young being out there? a prosecutor on the case, Andrew Pennebaker, asked Pickering in court. Never give up God is full of second chances, one woman wrote. The next morning, the office manager, Kristie Gutgsell, would clean up after them. Even if the treatment doesnt work, it feels good to be listened to when youre used to being ignored. It really meant a lot to me. 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. Hed also given her tips on how to eat better and how to lose weight. 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 . Strippers, tattoo artists, and rock-band groupies saw a kindred spirit in Young and came to him as patients. They go on working. Khazan: Like, for example, here he is sniffing a pair of womens underwear with his sidekick, a friend named Kevin. Scott Deberry: I just didnt like all the bickering on social media and in that newspaper. And doctorswho work in what is, after all, a service professionsometimes feel that its easier to pacify the patient than to push back. Khazan: In 2017, the very public world Jeff had built around himself started attracting a different kind of attention. He seemed, to his former employees, constitutionally unable to deny patients the pills they wanted, even if it was the last thing they needed. The whole thing was Very Online. He has been arrested several times, though not convicted, for assaulting women. 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. Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. 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. LeAnn said that Jeff stayed for hours, changing IV bags and chatting with him. (Soft percussive synthesizer music plays.). And, to be honest, most of the time when you see a white male with a lot of tattoos, theyre usually not someone that hangs around with people of different races. In 2014, Jeff started seeing a patient with the initials M.Y. And whats remarkable about the Rock Doc is that he streamed his private interactions with patients online. It was just rocked out. Khazan: Do you remember what kind of music was playing? This episode was reported by Olga Khazan and produced by Alvin Melathe. Young: (Over hard-rock music.) Calles: Yes. I swear he didnt look at my leg for 30 seconds, and he told me exactly what it was, he says. I cant say for sure what the right course of treatment for LaRhonda was, and where opioids fit into that. The Tennessee Department of Health will not release audio recordings from a state investigation of "Rock Doc" Jeffrey W. Young II, a nurse practitioner who was allowed to stay in business . Patients would spend an hour or two in the waiting room, only to get a rushed exam and prescription. Similarly, Young appeared to get the benefit of the doubt from virtually everyone. In 2018, a woman told police that Young put his hands down her pants during an office visit, but that apparently led to nothing. You may not like me. When you got all kinds of money, said Jon Benjamin Sharp, a local musician who used to see Young around town, you got all kinds of friends. (Sharp made clear that he himself wasnt a fan of Youngs.) Longoria: There are many pieces to the puzzle of how opioids found their way into so many medicine cabinets. (Droning music, reflective and cool, plays.). 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. Longoria: Olga Khazan is a staff writer at The Atlantic whos been covering the opioid epidemic for the last seven years. Thats okay. Jackson, TN USA. Some of his patients were police officers whom he would occasionally ask for favors. And Jeff, sitting at the center of it, covered in tattooshe had a sort of unlikely charisma too. Mellow and slow, it moves under the narration the way water moves through a stream.). But none of these barred the Rock Doc from getting drugs into the hands of patients. Later that month, M.Y. Some sought counseling, slept under their beds, or carried guns. Khazan: The videos were sarcastic and loose, intimate in their own bizarre way. Years before the launch of PreventaGenix, Young had already been accused of abusing his nurse-practitioner license. Music by Tasty Morsels and Nelson Nance. In September 2014, Young, Reitz, and Patel opened their first clinic and called it PreventaGenix. 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. A restaurant called the Little Rebel displayed a Confederate flag. Weeks after the indictment made national news, the clinic was packed with people coming and going, one woman who worked in a building with a view of the parking lot told me. They didnt openly harass anyone who criticized them. Im very shocked. Rather than call for help, Young walked away and left me on the ground, she told me. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information. We wont know if Young is guilty of everything the government says he is, or how much additional time, if any, he will serve, until later this year. The feds say Young . A few months into their new venture, Reitz and Young were supposed to meet to discuss the running of the clinic. the rock doc' jeff young. Young: So, the, uh, the sinister ministerthat would be me (Fades under again.). 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. Longoria: Opioids would be a new kind of painkiller to treat not just acute pain after an event like a surgery, but also pain that was more mundane, like chronic back pain that patients would complain about for years, but which doctors didnt have a clear cure for. Young: (Moaning.) (Green, who has since cut ties with Young, would not comment on this when I reached him, but he told the Sun that he asked another officer to look up the information.). And the consequences might have gone beyond sexual abuse and addiction. In his frequent social-media updates, he would drink and flip off the camera. Longoria: And what part of the crisis were you most focused on? Dont worry, my tattoos dont like you either, one image reads. Young was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in April 2019. Former employees speculated that he met the women in bars. But you know what? He pleaded not guilty to the . After the hearing, Young was jailed pending his trial, which is currently scheduled to be held this spring. 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. Its gonna be a little cold, all right? Trust me, I got people, he says to the camera. 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. Khazan: Jeff and his friend Kevin would often head to Periscope to defend themselves. Part of the judges reasoning was that Youngs Facebook posts showed a propensity for violence., Young continued blogging from jail, somehow managing to write a few posts for a website that promotes medical providers rights to prescribe opioids freely. Some of the doctors who have been accused of exchanging drugs for sex in recent years threatened patients that they would cut off their supply of painkillers if they didnt gratify them. Hes so cute thats my brother and my best friend, Young says, giving Phillips a gentle kiss. But maybe, just maybe, he showed too much. Khazan: Or stitch someone up after they cut themselves on a wine glass. Dan Reaves, a local radio host on whose show Young occasionally appeared as part of a marketing plan, described Young as medically gifted. They learned to ignore it. #saturdays at noon est to hear #nikkidarling chat with the #RockDoc Jeff Young II #musicmeetmedicine Starts at 12pm est. Khazan: To me, this felt immature, but it was all part of the brand. Its a shame, he told me, that Young got into so much legal trouble; think of all the people he might have helped. Heres what I can tell you. Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. It doesnt sound like much of a sella middle-aged man doling out medical advice in a city midway between Memphis and Nashville. The half-dozen former patients who did agree to talk with me were mostly people who wanted to defend Jeff. Others accused me of seeking to discredit Young and slander his name. But she also told me the story of her ex-husband. Young was by no means nationally or even regionally known. He was always polite. 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. 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. Khazan: In his Periscope videos, Jeff insisted it was all fun and games, and people were just criticizing him because of his style. An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. 1:32. Right? Apparently she felt strongly enough about it that he wouldnt leave her alone if she went to see him. If a patient would text him a compliment, he would blast it all over Facebook, one former employee told me. Scott Deberry: You go to the doctor, and you tell them whats wrong with you, and they look at you like, Oh, its nothing. Over the past two decades, opioids have claimed more than 450,000 American lives. Khazan: Ive talked to a lot of patients over the years who feel very uncomfortable around their doctors. So you got to be a good judge of character. Ballard: I dont believe Jeff overprescribed medication. Naylor: They would look at me and say [Dismissively. I said, um, So what are yall doing after-hour? Thrash metal, heavy metal, speed metal, blues, classical. Naylor: Thats a really hard question for me to answer, because I believeour whole family believesthat he saved my husbands life. Tennessees nursing board, the main agency that has power over nurse practitioners in the state, launched its investigation into Young within a year of PreventaGenix opening. (There were different Jeff Youngs in [the Records Management System] and I had very little information so he was not added to the report, the police report states.) [Laughs.] I accept all insurance, he told her. He would still be allowed to prescribe testosterone and cough syrup with codeine, however. Whatever the inspiration, his new persona was good for business. Khazan: So, like, that doctor-patient interaction and how the opioids actually got prescribed. How was a nurse practitioner whose behavior was so outrageous allowed to treat patients for so long? We cant live if hes out, she said. His case before the nursing board stalled for two more years. But tonally, much of the footage betrays him. PreventaGenix, with its Doric columns and grand portico, appeared to preside over the rest. And that was not the case at all. The clinic mostly offered cosmetic treatments, and it was located in a strip mall in a more industrial part of town, next to a chiropractor and a place called Genes Tire & Wrecker. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. Khazan: A lot of them, unfortunately, went with it. Three, two, one. (A meandering guitar melody enters the background. 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. Scott Deberry: But after a while, when you read stuff, how many people could be wrong? You ready? (Young has denied that hed had sex with the patient who appeared to be drugged.). Khazan: This is Tanya Ballard. Purdue Pharma ad voice-over: Once youve found the right doctor and have told him or her about your pain, dont be afraid to take what they give you. Khazan: Jeff was working as a nurse practitioner at a clinic called Preventagenix in Jackson, Tennessee. When it was getting close to the end of when I was going, it would be packed. Sometimes patients seeking opioids go to different providers until they find one who is willing to prescribe to them. They thought I was basically lazy and just wanted to have pain pills, just for whatever reason. Rumors started to spread in town that strange things were going on in Jeffs office. Young: Hi, my name is Jeff Young. Purdue ad doctor: These drugswhich, I repeat, are our best, strongest pain medicationsshould be used much more than they are for patients in pain. Why would you go to this doctor? His small fiefdom of followers created a mini echo chamber, feeding back approval and encouragement. Though criminal cases against doctors and nurse practitioners like Young are still relatively rare, they are growing more common. Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. They do not have serious medical side effects. So it was kind of significant to me. This is Aalto. For the occasion of his detention hearing, Young wore a cerulean suit and a comb-over. I visited Youngs clinic, but, through a staffer, he declined to speak with me. Youre just probably not feeling good. But they never believed us. The man says if he were ever shot, he would go to Young before going to the hospital. (The case did not result in a conviction.) Jeff wanted what was best for his patient. I mean, if somebody pats you on the back, that aint coming on to you. This distinction is important, because while nurse practitioners are functioning in the same capacity as physiciansordering and interpreting Jackson, Tennessee. Its joined at points by a line of harmony played on a synthesizer.). Off camera, Young allegedly prescribed 1.4 million addictive pills and had sex with female patients. ), (What sounds like road noise plays in the background of a Periscope clip. The DEA raided Jeffs clinic and seized all of his computers and thousands of doses of the opioid hydrocodone. His indictment implicated him and two of his former supervising physicians, Alexander Alperovich and Andrew Rudin, and alleged that Youngs motives in prescribing controlled substances to his patients were often to obtain money, notoriety, and sexual favors. Alperovich and Rudin, the indictment claims, accepted money derived from the proceeds of the conspiracy in exchange for their purported supervision. (Both have pleaded not guilty. Young seemed to have been expecting them. Fact-check by Michelle Ciarrocca and Jack Segelstein. In 2013, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder that is usually accompanied by widespread pain and fatigue. 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. 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. 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. Khazan: Christi Calles was the patient who loved listening to Stairway to Heaven.. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is currently in jail awaiting trial. He invited a cameraman to document his life and eventually had it edited into a pilot for a reality-TV show. Sometimes the two men would fight, and broken glass would litter the floor. 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 once saw someone running across her yard into the woods. Stuff, how many people could be wrong are still relatively rare, they are growing more common a! 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