Sound design by David Herman. The grosser side. In the past two decades, overdoses involving prescription opioids have killed more than 232,000 peoplethe population of Jackson several times overand the major players in the epidemic are finally being held to account. 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. Khazan: I talked to many of Jeffs patients. In February 2016, he texted one of his opioid patients, a police officer named Jay Green. As the nursing boards investigation of Young inched along, another agency launched its own probe into the Rock Doc. ), Jeff Young: Are we live? I didnt know that. Many medical providers are small-business owners who operate with limited oversight from authorities. Khazan: There was this really big series of indictments that came down in 2019 where the federal government said, You know what? All of them said that they didnt think Jeff sexually abused them. His vision was, evidently, to one day launch a reality series of the same name. Another said, I was thinking of you today and how much you have helped me.. 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. 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. In one scene, he and his best friend, a pharmaceutical representative named John Kevin Phillips, broadcast themselves on the video-streaming app Periscope. 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. His Rock Doc persona helped him connect with patients who might never have felt comfortable in a traditional doctors office. Angele Latham. Young was late to the office almost every day. I have found accounts of at least 40 other medical providers in the country who have been accused of exchanging sex for addictive drugs. 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. (The music opens up into a technologic rainforest as synthesizers mimic birdsong.). Its a small town; people talk. Even if the treatment doesnt work, it feels good to be listened to when youre used to being ignored. Khazan: In 2016, Jeff tried to broadcast his world even more widely. When it was getting close to the end of when I was going, it would be packed. Off camera, Young allegedly prescribed 1.4 million addictive pills and had sex with female patients. Tanya Ballard: I think people are Just didnt like Jeff. (Young has denied that hed had sex with the patient who appeared to be drugged.). And doctorswho work in what is, after all, a service professionsometimes feel that its easier to pacify the patient than to push back. Rather than suffer any real consequences for his allegedly reckless prescribing, Young continued to work as a medical provider for years. Over the past two decades, opioids have claimed more than 450,000 American lives. 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. Young grew up in Bethel Springs, a 700-person village near Jackson. Hed also given her tips on how to eat better and how to lose weight. Its light and upbeat.). Am I a misogynist, or do women just like rough sex? Young asks himself in one video. One January morning, officers swarmed the road outside the PreventaGenix building, guns drawn. ET on January 28, 2021. Young cared for all kinds of people, some of whom didnt have money or health insurance. In 2014, Young began seeing a patient identified as MY in a letter from Tennessees department of healtha letter that would ultimately lead to a nursing-board hearing for Young. 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. You need to be a certain kind of person to want a reality-TV show about yourself. It feels claustrophobic.). Stephanie, who returned to Youngs clinic after the incident at the club, said Young helped her more than any doctor shes ever seen. He was always polite. Longoria: There are many pieces to the puzzle of how opioids found their way into so many medicine cabinets. 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. And now we see the result. This distinction is important, because while nurse practitioners are functioning in the same capacity as physiciansordering and interpreting I visited Youngs clinic, but, through a staffer, he declined to speak with me. Throughout Jackson, he had created for himself a reputation as a rock-and-roll renegade, happily showing off his piercings, tattoos, and goatee. PreventaGenix, with its Doric columns and grand portico, appeared to preside over the rest. After the hearing, Young was jailed pending his trial, which is currently scheduled to be held this spring. Khazan: The first time I watched this video, I just heard Jeff making excuses. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Young did seem to be famous enough in Jackson, however, to reinforce his own grand vision of himself. 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.). Olga Khazan: At the time, there wasnt a lot of limits on pharmaceutical companies being able to tell doctors that. 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. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Scott Deberry: I just didnt like all the bickering on social media and in that newspaper. But that did not put a stop to Youngs ambitions. Nearly a fifth of the citys residents live below the poverty line, and many are afflicted with chronic diseases that often accompany the stresses of a low income. Young: (Over the sound of a pool-filtration system.) 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. Though the system came slowly for Young, during the years he was being investigated America underwent a national reckoning about opioids. Young is . But he, uh He was true to himself; lets say that. 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. So, no, I cant say that. Theres actually a diagnosis called white-coat hypertension. Its when your blood pressure spikes in a doctors office because the whole experience is nerve-racking. But one thing that I was really curious about is how you actually went from having opioids being a thing that existed to having opioids be a thing that existed in peoples medicine cabinets. They didnt play Stairway to Heaven or have Periscope accounts. Furthermore, Dr. Young along with his wife and daughter Melody works at his clinic. [Laughs lightly.] Jackson, TN USA. Sound design by David Herman. Khazan: The one that caught my eye was this guy named Jeff Young, a nurse practitioner who called himself the Rock Doc, quote-unquote. Longoria: The result is that more than 450,000 people are dead from overdose in the last 20 years. Jeff immediately sees that he is inyou know, hes in pretty bad shape. You may not like my sexy-ass beard. Its joined at points by a line of harmony played on a synthesizer.). Khazan: And sometimes theyd even ask their followers and fans to back them up. You may not like my tattoos. I cant say for sure what the right course of treatment for LaRhonda was, and where opioids fit into that. There was no statement even made to the Feds. JACKSON, Tenn. The end is nowhere close for three medical professionals charged in a federal opioid crackdown earlier this year. She became his patient around 2016. Young: Very nice. Whatever the inspiration, his new persona was good for business. I asked to speak with him for this story, but because of a gag order on the case, his lawyer declined interviews with me. She wasnt the only patient to stick by him. 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. I dont wear underwear. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago. 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. 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. Without doing a physical exam, Young diagnosed MY with chronic lower-back pain and anxiety, the letter details. Being around Young made her feel emotionally safe, she said. Additional music by Nelson Bandela (04 HIDDEN FORCES and Auddi Sun 01 131). And that was not the case at all. Minutes after finishing the second drink, Stephanie fell face-first onto the floor. 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. During one club night, Young bought Stephanie two drinks and his friends handed them to her. Young was among them. (A long moment of music with no narration before it fades out. 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. * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. So hes a little out there. Young: (Moaning.) Khazan: Christi Calles was the patient who loved listening to Stairway to Heaven.. Look at me! Hes a great doctor and never has he acted any way towards me but professional! one woman wrote. Nurse practitioners have played a key role in Tennessees opioid epidemic. There were reports of after-hours partiespossibly of Jeff having sex with his patients. Five other medical providers, just in Jackson, were indicted too. She texted Jeff. But it played [Emphasizing.] 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. The feds say Young . 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. He didnt mind saying a curse word or two.. (Later, Phillips pleaded guilty to threatening a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was investigating Young. Im like, Im as outspoken as he is. The manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids have been sued by dozens of states and municipalities for the damage theyve allegedly caused. 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