Well all be killed., It helped that Young had prominent friends he could call on for help. Yall partying in the office? [Chuckles.] He may have that, but hes not Hes down to earth. The opioid epidemicwhich appears to only be getting worsehas made clear that wherever pain exists in America, grifters will follow. (Patel did not respond to requests for comment.) Whether or not Young is convicted, the perverse incentives for doctors to see patients for short visits and to prescribe too many unnecessary drugs will remain. Many people trust doctors even when theyre harmed by their treatment, and a 2008 study found that people are more likely to spend time researching a new employer or a new car than vetting a new surgeon. His lawyer also declined to answer any specific allegations. But the board has a history of letting suspicious providers go on practicing for years. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. Hes prescribing drugs that people want, another man added. 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. Copyright 2021 The Atlantic and New York Public Radio. Why would you go to this doctor? They do not have serious medical side effects. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for money, notoriety, and sexual favors.. Khazan: Do you remember what kind of music was playing? Several others dismissed the notion that Young could be sexually coercive. Even after this, she returned to Young as a patient. In addition to steroid shots, Young prescribed her oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall for her various medical issues. 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. 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.] Long after the criminal charges against him became known, many of Youngs patients and friends came to his defenseincluding some whom he had seemingly wronged. But tonally, much of the footage betrays him. 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.). We thought we would close out the daythe third Periscope of the daywith a little fireside chat. With Young at least temporarily behind bars, some of his fans seem to have reached a point of disillusionment with the Rock Docor, at least, a point of fatigue. (A long moment of music with no narration before it fades out. You may not like my sexy-ass beard. (The drugmaker that is most often blamed for the epidemic doesnt agree with this assessment: Suggesting that activities that last occurred more than 16 years ago are responsible for todays complex and multifaceted opioid crisis is deeply flawed, a Purdue Pharma spokesperson, Robert Josephson, said in a statement to The New York Times for a story on this issue.). This is just gonna be a little freeze spray first. Off camera, Young allegedly prescribed 1.4 million addictive pills and had sex with female patients. [A moment of indistinct crosstalk.] One patient she knew kept a cane in the trunk of her car and visited doctors offices with it in order to appear disabled so she could get more pills. (A snare hit plays, and the music changes tone again. If you speak against me, she remembers him saying, youre gonna regret it.. Not all of them were into the whole edgy hard-rock thing at first. Khazan: Do you feel like Jeff has done more harm than good? 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. Thats the big joke. was found dead of an apparent overdose. Young: So Im gonna not have a cigar. The former patient told me she became afraid to leave her house. No one could quite tell me who or what was responsible for Youngs transformation. The men each contributed $40,000 to the endeavor. Apparently she felt strongly enough about it that he wouldnt leave her alone if she went to see him. 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.) ), (What sounds like road noise plays in the background of a Periscope clip. His black shirt collar didnt quite hide the tattoos on the back of his neck. Fact-check by Michelle Ciarrocca and Jack Segelstein. Young: (Just after another person laughs.) 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. Stephanie would accompany him to different clubs in the area, and wherever he went, she said, he was surrounded by hired bodyguards and friends she called bouncers, who were around for the times when he drank too much or flirted with women and got into fights with their boyfriends. He was like, No, we do Botox and stuff for people, and dah-dah-dah-dah. (Droning music, reflective and cool, plays.). [Khazan laughs.] Am I a misogynist, or do women just like rough sex? Young asks himself in one video. Khazan: So, like, that doctor-patient interaction and how the opioids actually got prescribed. 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. But I was willing to overlook all that, you know? 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. 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. 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 can find Olgas written reporting on the Rock Doc at our website: http://www.theatlantic.com/experiment. Stephanie, who returned to Youngs clinic after the incident at the club, said Young helped her more than any doctor shes ever seen. No one else seemed capable of treating all her problemsthroat swelling, high blood pressure, attention issues. I visited Youngs clinic, but, through a staffer, he declined to speak with me. Prosecutors say Young used his rebellious persona to take advantage of patients, distributing highly addictive painkillers on demand and in large quantities for profitand, often, his own sexual gratification. Every time. 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. a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. I dont. 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? Then and over the ensuing months, I spoke with dozens of Youngs friends, enemies, alleged victims, and former co-workers. In August 2015, Young prescribed MY what the letter calls a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. I dont like him asking out my daughter But even then, I still went to him, and my ex-husband still went to him. Khazan: Or stitch someone up after they cut themselves on a wine glass. It surprised her, but Jeff was attuned to all that. Of course other doctors dont write as many prescriptions, the implication seemed to be. Even now, I cant say that. Not that half of the, you know powers that be are on some sort of whatever. Young cared for all kinds of people, some of whom didnt have money or health insurance. How was a nurse practitioner whose behavior was so outrageous allowed to treat patients for so long? When the local news station, WBBJ, posted a story about Youngs case on Facebook, the usual chorus of defenders raised their voices. (The synthesizer takes over the harmony, traipsing up and down the melody line before it quiets and the episode ends.). ], Oh, you look fine to me.. 1:07. Young had an active channel on Periscope, where he and Phillips drank and waxed philosophical. 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. 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. 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. The DEA raided Jeffs clinic and seized all of his computers and thousands of doses of the opioid hydrocodone. The story of how that doctor-patient communication broke downhundreds of thousands of timesis what Olga wanted to understand. Though he was not an M.D., Young christened himself the Rock Doc.. In 2012, Young was working at a cardiology practice in Jackson when, with a consultant named Rich Reitz and cardiologist named Dharmesh Patel, he set up a side business giving talks to doctors about treating heart attacks and strokes. Heres what I can tell you. (Soft percussive synthesizer music plays.). Its heavy, and it loops. Naylor: Yes, he does. (The DEA declined to comment on Youngs case for this story.) But as I talked to more patients, they started saying things that really surprised me. Patel left soon after. Khazan: In his Periscope videos, Jeff insisted it was all fun and games, and people were just criticizing him because of his style. every time. (Youngs attorney claimed in court that only about 25 percent of his patients were.) ), (The intro to a rock song plays, with a driving, pulsing beat. But that did not put a stop to Youngs ambitions. They didnt try to become reality-TV stars. It fit neatly, at least, into a story I was already really familiar with: It was the greedy provider who was allegedly taking advantage of his patients. Khazan: Ive talked to a lot of patients over the years who feel very uncomfortable around their doctors. (The music opens up into a technologic rainforest as synthesizers mimic birdsong.). At other times, PreventaGenix staffers would stumble upon a woman he had brought to the clinic the previous night. You could see, almost, when you were talking to him, he was listeningand he was thumping that pen to the beat of the music. (A moment of narrative silence. Pharmacists began to refuse to fill his prescriptions. Have you ever been to a doctor and you just didnt feel comfortable? Young: Very nice. Some of Youngs dalliances with his patient-friends similarly took a dark turn. 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. Instead, Young began by kicking Reitz out of the business, Reitz told me. Khazan: To me, this felt immature, but it was all part of the brand. Scott Deberry: Everyone in his office was all white. They described Young to me as intelligent, as knowing almost as much as a doctor would knowor maybe even more. One employee recalled him sometimes being too drunk to see patients. Julia Longoria: Over 20 years ago, pharmaceutical companies began to market the use of a magical pill. Longoria: The result is that more than 450,000 people are dead from overdose in the last 20 years. I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. They painted a picture of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to hang out. There is a friendliness, too, that one associates with the South. (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.). Like, all these doctors who are really out of line and just writing so many scripts for so many addictive drugs, theyre really not being careful at all. Fact-check by Michelle Ciarrocca and Jack Segelstein. His lawyer also declined to answer any specific allegations. Reitz says he and his girlfriend came up with the unwieldy namea futuristic combination of prevent and genetics. Jackson Sun. (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.) Why would you go to this doctor? And now we see the result. Scott Deberry: But after a while, when you read stuff, how many people could be wrong? 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. (The music changes tone, becoming a little more up-tempo and treble-heavy.). 0:04. Despite some patients praise for Young, the evidence that he routinely walked far over that line remains alarming. Looking for Jeff Young online? Khazan: LeAnn Naylor was the secretary for the mayor of Jackson when she started seeing Jeff as a patient. Hey! They didnt drop F-bombs or smell womens underwear online. His case before the nursing board stalled for two more years. The entire epidemic has been an unending story of doctors, pharmaceutical executives, and public officials blithely ignoring signs of danger. He even convinced her to get weight-loss surgery. 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. (A long beat of music. I said, um, So what are yall doing after-hour? Young cries at his sons fifth-grade graduation, then explains that hes so emotional because his nurses are having their periods. Listen to the trailer for. I mean, if somebody pats you on the back, that aint coming on to you. He tied the knot with his beautiful wife Dr. Petra. The agency also searched Youngs cellphone. (She did not want to be named for fear of jeopardizing her business.) Angele Latham. Its light and upbeat.). One of his patients, Helena Louvaris, told me that Young saved her life by putting her on a diet plan. Lots of people refused to talk to me because they fear Young, but many others refused because they love him. 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. Mellow and slow, it moves under the narration the way water moves through a stream.). [Laughs lightly.] (The case did not result in a conviction.) In one scene, he and his best friend, a pharmaceutical representative named John Kevin Phillips, broadcast themselves on the video-streaming app Periscope. The clinics aim would be to halt the parade of miseriesheart attacks, early deaths, hospital billsbrought on by the obesity epidemic. 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. 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. And even then, I didnt want to hear it. His case offers a unique look at the opioid crisis. Naylor: They would look at me and say [Dismissively. Five other medical providers, just in Jackson, were indicted too. Khazan: I talked to many of Jeffs patients. Calles: I dont know. Olga Khazan: At the time, there wasnt a lot of limits on pharmaceutical companies being able to tell doctors that. 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. (Ringing leads into a soft, humming organ song.). Ill meet you there. Its often called the invisible illness, because, even though the pain is very real for the person experiencing it, some doctors dont take it seriously. (A shudder, a gasp, then clapping and bubbling evolve into a background track.). It was a story her daughter told her about a time she got sick. He gave Young total control over what was recorded. And that was not the case at all. In fact, he avoided doctors at all costs. Thats very distressing Yeah, Im shocked, you know? He has been arrested several times, though not convicted, for assaulting women. Purdue ad doctor: These drugswhich, I repeat, are our best, strongest pain medicationsshould be used much more than they are for patients in pain. Whenever he ran into trouble, his fans would fill his social-media feeds with pledges of support. Otherwise, fledgling practices, in particular, risk losing patients. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against 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. 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. I am a, uh, nurse practitioner. Its a small town; people talk. Rock Doc pilot testimonial: (Over heavy rock music.) Some sought counseling, slept under their beds, or carried guns. Of the women who returned my calls, none wanted to speak on the record under her real name, but all denied that Young had sexually abused them. But it played [Emphasizing.] Its joined at points by a line of harmony played on a synthesizer.). How far can medical providers go in giving patients what they want? In another, he totters around with an empty bottle of bourbon and pans the camera over to Phillips, who is asleep on the couch. I accept all insurance, he told her. The Experiment is a co-production of The Atlantic and WNYC Studios. Brown hair, green eyes, amazing body. He smells them again. Calles: I mean, you have killersmurderers, I meanthat have not been in jail this long. Though both she and Reaves said Young should be held accountable for anything he did wrong, Stephanie told me that she forgave him. Hows it going? Young was, in short, a medical provider who acted like everyones best friend. Coming on to you health insurance before the nursing board stalled for two years. Well all be killed., it helped that Young saved her life by putting her on a synthesizer )... His girlfriend came up with the unwieldy namea futuristic combination of prevent and genetics she. Alone if she went to see him girlfriend came up with the unwieldy namea futuristic of... 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