You may not like my sexy-ass beard. We put out calls and emails to dozens of Jeff Youngs patients. Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. 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. Thats okay. Scott Deberry: Kinda made it start seeming like he was unprofessional. Rachel Fullington, an early employee of Youngs, told me Young wanted the clinics atmosphere to be loose and fun, while the others wanted it to be more buttoned-up. 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: In his Periscope videos, Jeff insisted it was all fun and games, and people were just criticizing him because of his style. Young wanted information about one of his enemies. Despite some patients praise for Young, the evidence that he routinely walked far over that line remains alarming. Every time. 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. Do you feel safe with Mr. Young being out there? a prosecutor on the case, Andrew Pennebaker, asked Pickering in court. Naylor: My husband hadnt been to a doctor in years. Thank you for listening. They would shut off the power so they had an excuse to close the clinic on those days. And if you want to help other people discover the show, share it online with the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. This social-media stardom appears to have helped inoculate him against concerns that his loose approach to medicine could harm anyone. Were tracing your fucking account now, so you better be prepared to reap the whirlwind of your bullshit., As he gathered followers, Young began to deploy his social-media presence to hunt down and intimidate his former employees and ex-friends, some of whom told me they felt threatened by Young and his followers. So, no, I cant say that. Yall partying in the office? [Chuckles.] Kevin: And were going to ask our friendsour warriors out thereto put these folks in their place, because, you know, the Golden Rule. the rock doc' jeff young. Furthermore, Dr. Young along with his wife and daughter Melody works at his clinic. Listen to the trailer for. Will be glad to take the balance out of your ass. To another, Jeff asked, You want to come by for a checkup tomorrow? The DEA raided Jeffs clinic and seized all of his computers and thousands of doses of the opioid hydrocodone. As the court spent two days scrutinizing his years of alleged misdeeds, he sat mostly silently. He may have that, but hes not Hes down to earth. 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. I mean, you could just kind of tell you could trust him. Young was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in April 2019. She once saw someone running across her yard into the woods. Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. Hows it going? One of them was that I had the story all wrong. I accept all insurance, he told her. The manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids have been sued by dozens of states and municipalities for the damage theyve allegedly caused. Pharmacists began to refuse to fill his prescriptions. They married in 2014 and lived right above his vet clinic in Denver. On April 17, 2019, officials swept through Appalachia, charging 53 medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Khazan: This is Tanya Ballard. If a patient would text him a compliment, he would blast it all over Facebook, one former employee told me. Khazan: When I first started talking to Jeffs former patients, I thought I understood this story. Jackson nurse practitioner Jeffrey Young will await his opioid trafficking trial in jail, an appeals court decided Thursday. Moreover, throwing some glimpse of lights to his personal life, Dr. Jeff is a happily married man. Youngs second marriage was already in trouble by the time PreventaGenix launched, and after his divorce he quickly found new girlfriends. (Plucky yet funky music plays. Longoria: Pharmaceutical companies marketed these drugs aggressively to doctors. I mean, he had his doctors lab coat on. She doesnt think Young was the one who drugged her, but she believes nevertheless that she was drugged. 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. Khazan: The one that caught my eye was this guy named Jeff Young, a nurse practitioner who called himself the Rock Doc, quote-unquote. Im like, Im as outspoken as he is. 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. Minutes after finishing the second drink, Stephanie fell face-first onto the floor. Two bouncers made sure she got home, but when she woke up in bed the next morning, her eyes were black, her nose was broken, and her mouth was bleeding. Fullington, who was also let go, told me she got a threatening call from Young. 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. Though Young at first just seemed to go along with the project, he grew more invested after the first visit, the cameraman told me. In an email to The Atlantic, Working said that when it came to Phillipss actions, there was no direct threat. Julia Longoria: Over 20 years ago, pharmaceutical companies began to market the use of a magical pill. Jeff wanted what was best for his patient. And most doctors youve seen, they give off this persona as like, Im too cool. 1:07. * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. (A long beat of music. In confessional-style interviews, Young seems to enjoy offending anyone whos shocked by his approach. Even now, I cant say that. Khazan: Does that change how you feel about him? As so often happens with irresponsible medical providers, Youngs popularity in the communityalong with an indifferent, slow-moving bureaucracyallowed him to operate for half a decade despite initial warning signs and then multiple arrests and investigations. Young: All right. Khazan: LeAnn Naylor was the secretary for the mayor of Jackson when she started seeing Jeff as a patient. 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. Khazan: And he posted dozens of videos there. Early in the epidemic, Purdue gave doctors OxyContin fishing hats and swing-music CDs to encourage them to prescribe more of the drug. Thats not my fucking problem, all right? I dont like him asking out my daughter But even then, I still went to him, and my ex-husband still went to him. And were gonna send a message. They called it the single largest crackdown on prescription opioids in history. [Khazan laughs.] Young and the others were among dozens of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists arrested across seven states, targets in the nations largest takedown of medical providers related to prescription opioids. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. Jeff refilled M.Y.s prescriptions for Percocet and Valium and gave him a new one for hydrocodone. An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. An obese man explains that Young helped him with his swollen leg. (A shudder, a gasp, then clapping and bubbling evolve into a background track.). How was a nurse practitioner whose behavior was so outrageous allowed to treat patients for so long? Many people in Jackson seemed to see themselves in Young. On my trip, I strolled by a glass case near the federal courthouse that held a large Bible opened to the Gospel of John. But none of these barred the Rock Doc from getting drugs into the hands of patients. Calles: I just wasnt getting the care I needed. How far can medical providers go in giving patients what they want? His lawyer also declined to answer any specific allegations. Khazan: LaRhonda was skepticalbut she was also dealing with a lot of pain. The self-proclaimed "Rock Doc" is accused of trading powerful . A woman Ill call Stephanie developed a friendship with Young a few years ago when she was regularly seeing him for swelling in her throat. Naylor: And I remember him saying, Bring him to the office. Young appeared to operate more subtly. 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. Khazan: He had an account on Periscope, the live-streaming site. 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. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Case 18-11780-BLS Doc 45 Filed 08/02/18 Page 1 of 1041. 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. Rather than suffer any real consequences for his allegedly reckless prescribing, Young continued to work as a medical provider for years. 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. All right, guys. Khazan: He worked in the timber industry, and one day at work, he got overheated and disoriented. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. The cost of producing the Rock Doc pilot, about $2,000, was entirely paid for by the clinic, Gutgsell claimed in a deposition. ], Oh, you look fine to me.. He soon opened a new clinic, which he called GeneXis Health. One of his patients, Helena Louvaris, told me that Young saved her life by putting her on a diet plan. 1,274 likes. Be part of The Experiment. 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. Khazan: I had a lot of Why on earth? questions: Why would he do this? Thats the big joke. 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. When PreventaGenix closed, Young was alleged to have failed to pay part of the unemployment insurance, federal tax withholdings, and final payroll for the clinic, according to a lawsuit filed by his former partners, Reitz and Patel. In one scene, he and his best friend, a pharmaceutical representative named John Kevin Phillips, broadcast themselves on the video-streaming app Periscope. Never give up God is full of second chances, one woman wrote. But, in theory, there should have been a check on all this. And doctorswho work in what is, after all, a service professionsometimes feel that its easier to pacify the patient than to push back. Naylor: I felt like he was being treated unfairlythat maybe he had even been set up. Patients would spend an hour or two in the waiting room, only to get a rushed exam and prescription. Khazan: A lot of them, unfortunately, went with it. The Rock Doc affectations, Louvaris said, merely show that hes different from other doctors. 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. So, uh, here we are, sitting by the pool. An active and fun show following the life of FNP Jeff Young II at work and his life after work. As the cameraman who filmed the pilot told me, Everywhere he went, it was like the Beatles., But the way in which Young gained some of these fans has become the focus of a federal court case. 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. LeAnn Naylor: I have not had a lot of positive interactions with doctors. (Court records do not contain the names of Youngs alleged victims.) Am I a misogynist, or do women just like rough sex? Young asks himself in one video. Young was among them. Khazan: Christi Calles was the patient who loved listening to Stairway to Heaven.. You can all suck my d***. Rock Doc TV. 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. Strippers, tattoo artists, and rock-band groupies saw a kindred spirit in Young and came to him as patients. Hes a great doctor and never has he acted any way towards me but professional! one woman wrote. Theres this moment in one of the videos that I keep thinking about: Young: (Over more pool filtration.) MY came to PreventaGenix complaining of lower-back pain and numbness in his left arm, and asked for refills of pain medications. [Laughs lightly.] 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.). Occasionally he would glare at his ex-wife Dawn, who was in the gallery. Reitz says he and his girlfriend came up with the unwieldy namea futuristic combination of prevent and genetics. 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. Of course other doctors dont write as many prescriptions, the implication seemed to be. I mean, you wouldve thought they were giving away meds for free, to be honest. He would sometimes brag about having sex on his lunch break, sharing with his staff pictures of his conquests, three employees said. With a heavy Mercy me, Phillips produces a pair of womens panties from a bag. 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. This ingratiating tendency allegedly extended to handing out prescriptions. Khazan: Jeff and his friend Kevin would often head to Periscope to defend themselves. Khazan: Which was exactly what she liked about him. Young began arriving at the clinic smelling rancid, with greasy hair, and the clinics money problems mounted. 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. Were going to take the worst of the worst. But you know what? I cant say for sure what the right course of treatment for LaRhonda was, and where opioids fit into that. You ready? Jeffrey Young wanted to give you a real look inside his clinic. 14:46. The allegations against Young point toward an especially sordid type of abuse in which some doctors victimize patients twice: first by getting them addicted to drugs, and then by sexually exploiting them. 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. We thought we would close out the daythe third Periscope of the daywith a little fireside chat. Mellow and slow, it moves under the narration the way water moves through a stream.). 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