rockdoc jeff young
To date, none of the alleged victims in Youngs court case has come forward publicly to speak against him. Hed also given her tips on how to eat better and how to lose weight. Use the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast, or write to us at theexperiment@theatlantic.com. But when he suggested it the way he did, I took it seriously. I didnt know that. (Plucky yet funky music plays. (In response to a request for comment, a health-department spokesperson noted that, according to state law, the department cant suspend medical licenses without first giving practitioners the opportunity to demonstrate compliance regarding the allegations against them. You may not like what I stand for. Wear a short skirt and no panties.. He was like, No, we do Botox and stuff for people, and dah-dah-dah-dah. I visited Youngs clinic, but, through a staffer, he declined to speak with me. Im Julia Longoria. How far can medical providers go in giving patients what they want? Young was, in short, a medical provider who acted like everyones best friend. This episode was reported by Olga Khazan and produced by Alvin Melathe. When one video was apparently manipulated by one of his detractors and posted online, Young threatened whoever might have done it. Young would call these liaisons nooners or say it was tap-that-ass Tuesday, according to court testimony. While Youngs antics could be a nightmare for his staff, his pool of patients increased as word about his practice spread. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. He invited a cameraman to document his life and eventually had it edited into a pilot for a reality-TV show. But none of these barred the Rock Doc from getting drugs into the hands of patients. The clinic sat on a quiet road crammed with other medical practicesa sleep doctor, a dentist, a nephrologist, an orthodontisteach in its own . He would sometimes brag about having sex on his lunch break, sharing with his staff pictures of his conquests, three employees said. Young: Whats up, my friend? Yeah. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for "money, notoriety, and sexual favors." Young's case provides a rare gl Make and Model: The only Billboard Hot 100 entry for new wave greats The Cars with an automotive title to match their band name . (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. Khazan: LeAnn Naylor was the secretary for the mayor of Jackson when she started seeing Jeff as a patient. 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. It doesnt sound like much of a sella middle-aged man doling out medical advice in a city midway between Memphis and Nashville. Yet he still attracted patients at GeneXis prior to his detention hearing in May 2019. They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. Sometimes the two men would fight, and broken glass would litter the floor. 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? This is just gonna be a little freeze spray first. Young: Very nice. Youngs pursuit of fame culminated in his attempt to launch the Rock Doc television show. Throughout the opioid epidemic, a distressing number of doctors have seen a perverse opportunity in Americans suffering. To get from pharma lab to medicine cabinet, the drug needed to pass through one of the most sacred spaces in America. Thats the big joke. Minutes after finishing the second drink, Stephanie fell face-first onto the floor. Thats not my fucking problem, all right? Patients say the Rock Doc helped them like no one else could. This striking 6ft 3in person embodies kanji tattoos on his biceps, and the effortlessly cool personality will describe how one sees him. Calles: I mean, you have killersmurderers, I meanthat have not been in jail this long. 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. Others accused me of seeking to discredit Young and slander his name. Khazan: Jeff was working as a nurse practitioner at a clinic called Preventagenix in Jackson, Tennessee. They didnt openly harass anyone who criticized them. Young: (Just after another person laughs.) Aggressive marketing is one piece of it. 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. Khazan: To me, this felt immature, but it was all part of the brand. He refilled MYs prescriptions for Percocet and Valium, and also prescribed him hydrocodone. They go on working. Longoria: Pharmaceutical companies marketed these drugs aggressively to doctors. Young: So Im gonna not have a cigar. Young, 43, a Tennessee nurse practitioner who called himself 'Rock Doc' and once piloted . Kevin: Jeff and I are full of antics. 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. In his frequent social-media updates, he would drink and flip off the camera. During one club night, Young bought Stephanie two drinks and his friends handed them to her. I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. Then and over the ensuing months, I spoke with dozens of Youngs friends, enemies, alleged victims, and former co-workers. Actually very nice, yeah. You may not like my sexy-ass beard. Khazan: And sometimes theyd even ask their followers and fans to back them up. The daughter, Melody, actually works in her dad's vet clinic. As the court spent two days scrutinizing his years of alleged misdeeds, he sat mostly silently. He was like a friend. Khazan: A lot of them, unfortunately, went with it. 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. With a heavy Mercy me, Phillips produces a pair of womens panties from a bag. Another compared Young to a brother and called my reporting disrespectful.. Calles: I dont know. 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 woman I spoke with who has worked for seven doctors offices in the area estimates that about three-quarters of medical visits there result in an opioid prescription. Khazan: So Ive written a million stories about this. And Jeff, sitting at the center of it, covered in tattooshe had a sort of unlikely charisma too. Khazan: I had a lot of Why on earth? questions: Why would he do this? Young: (Moaning.) I just asked him. Similarly, Young appeared to get the benefit of the doubt from virtually everyone. Thats okay. They just, like, keep their distance from you. Thank you for listening. And Im like, Oh. [A beat.] He has three children, two sons, and a daughter, from his first marriage. She became his patient around 2016. Federal prosecutors who charged him in a massive opioid bust say he overprescribed painkillers, often for money, notoriety, and sexual favors.. Meanwhile, LeAnn Naylor, the secretary of Jacksons former mayor, first told me over email that she stood by Young after his hearing, but then recently said shed started having doubts because Young would frequently hit on her adult daughter. 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.. She said, He latches on to young single mothers, and he rushes in and wants toquote-unquotesave them.. He wasnt in pain. You ready? She appreciated that he asked about her grandkids. [A moment of indistinct crosstalk.] But you know what? The manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids have been sued by dozens of states and municipalities for the damage theyve allegedly caused. (Laughs heartily.). Why would he do this? Rock Doc pilot testimonial: (Over heavy rock music.) Young appeared to operate more subtly. Because he prescribed my opiates, and I took them as prescribed, and I had no problems with it. Despite the accumulation of evidence suggesting that Young was running his practice recklessly and endangering patients, he remained licensed to write prescriptions for five years after PreventaGenix opened its doors. So, uh, here we are, sitting by the pool. When it was getting close to the end of when I was going, it would be packed. The self-proclaimed "Rock Doc" is accused of trading powerful . Khazan: Jeff had been good to Tanya in the clinic, which was an experience that she didnt usually have with doctors. ET on January 28, 2021. Naylor: They just immediately hit it off. (A moment of narrative silence. Even now, I cant say that. 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. Shed come to see Jeff for a range of health issues, from diabetes to cystitis, and she just didnt buy the things people were saying about him. Young: Hi, my name is Jeff Young. LaRhonda Scott Deberry: When I first met him, I thought maybe he was prejudiced. To one patient, who he prescribed hydrocodone, amphetamines, and fentanyl, he said, I accept all insurance. One story I found in a letter from Jeffs nursing-board case stuck with me. By the end of this hearing, you will be asking what on Earth took the medical board so long, Pennebaker, the prosecutor, said in court. Nurse practitioner Jeff Young, known as the "Rock Doc," and . Jackson nurse practitioner Jeffrey Young will await his opioid trafficking trial in jail, an appeals court decided Thursday. We cant live if hes out, she said. Jeff gets his nick name "Rock Doc" from his loyal patients. Who cares? All throughout the past few months, Youngs fans have papered his Facebook wall with loving messages. Moreover, throwing some glimpse of lights to his personal life, Dr. Jeff is a happily married man. But that did not put a stop to Youngs ambitions. At Youngs practice, the quantities of opioids were larger than many investigations that I conducted, Shirley Pickering, a nursing-board investigator, later said in court. He graduated from Musicians Institute in 1985, and is best known for his time with the thrash metal band Megadeth, appearing on the 1988 album So Far, So Good. 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. 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. He didnt pull any punches, she said. 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 . All of them said that they didnt think Jeff sexually abused them. Khazan: In the pilot, he presents himself as more of a friend than a medical professional. [Laughs.] a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. I dont wear underwear. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. The cause of death, according to the letter, was a probable cardiac event due to polypharmacy, or the simultaneous use of multiple drugs.. In February 2016, he texted one of his opioid patients, a police officer named Jay Green. Tune in today! One admitted that Young had flirted with her. The allegations, when they started coming, though, really started coming fast. 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. States largely rely on medical boards to regulate practitioners, but these entities have a reputation for leniency. I dont like him asking out my daughter But even then, I still went to him, and my ex-husband still went to him. There were reports of after-hours partiespossibly of Jeff having sex with his patients. They painted a picture of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to hang out. Its light and upbeat.). Young: Even get all gussied up for tonight. LeAnn said that Jeff stayed for hours, changing IV bags and chatting with him. 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. Looking for Jeff Young online? A restaurant called the Little Rebel displayed a Confederate flag. The cameraman who shot the pilot, who requested anonymity because he doesnt want to be associated with Youngs case, heard about Young through a mutual friend and visited him several times to shoot footage for what he hoped could become a reality show. Young was among them. Otherwise, fledgling practices, in particular, risk losing patients. Listen to the trailer for. Many of the people I interviewedincluding some of Youngs former patients and employeesasked to remain anonymous, often because they feared retribution at the hands of Young and his friends. 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. 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. (Court records do not contain the names of Youngs alleged victims.) 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. Without doing a physical exam, Young diagnosed MY with chronic lower-back pain and anxiety, the letter details. 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. (One employee, Karla Wright, testified later that she had never seen Young have sex with women at the office. Why would you go to this doctor? 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. Yes. Lets see here, shes 23, Young says. The resulting addictions were blamed on reckless patients, rather than the fundamental chemistry of the opioids themselves. So you got to be a good judge of character. The cost of producing the Rock Doc pilot, about $2,000, was entirely paid for by the clinic, Gutgsell claimed in a deposition. But tonally, much of the footage betrays him. 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. 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.) * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. 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. Rudins lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Jeffrey " Jeff " Young (born March 31, 1962) is an American guitarist. Heres what I can tell you. And were gonna send a message. They called it the single largest crackdown on prescription opioids in history. 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. Hed wear Halloween masks and make off-color jokes. It was just rocked out. (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.) (Fades under.). (Fades under.). Listen to the trailer for Holy Week. 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. The former patient told me she became afraid to leave her house. 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. Always have been for the patient. Young: (Serious, and a little angry.) Kevin: (In a Periscope video.) (Youngs attorney claimed in court that only about 25 percent of his patients were.) By 2012, Young was allegedly supplying testosterone without a clear medical reason to high schoolers who wanted to bulk up. Really started coming, though, really started coming fast called my reporting disrespectful.. calles I... 1962 ) is an American guitarist Jeff stayed for hours, changing IV bags and with. A muscle relaxant is an American guitarist 23, Young was allegedly supplying testosterone without a clear medical reason high. S vet clinic panties from a bag.. calles: I mean, you have killersmurderers, I accept insurance., none of the kind of medical office where you might actually want to out... 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