Khazan: LaRhonda was skepticalbut she was also dealing with a lot of pain. Three, two, one. 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. 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.) In the past five years, at least 40 medical providers nationwide have been accused of exchanging sex for addictive drugs. It really meant a lot to me. I just didnt feel comfortable. When one patient told Young over Facebook Messenger that she was in shitty health and about to jump off a bridge, he prescribed her a cocktail of several different drugs, including fentanyl. Obesity and diabetes are rampant; so is chronic pain. Later that month, M.Y. Apparently she felt strongly enough about it that he wouldnt leave her alone if she went to see him. Young: (Moaning.) Rather than call for help, Young walked away and left me on the ground, she told me. Khazan: And some of what she saw really weirded her out. I had had back surgery, and I really had real problems that no one wanted to listen to me about. Naylor: Yes, he does. In fact, he avoided doctors at all costs. (Fades under.). The waiting room often overflowed with patients. Khazan: But the pilot also showed the other side of Jeff. 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. The cost of producing the Rock Doc pilot, about $2,000, was entirely paid for by the clinic, Gutgsell claimed in a deposition. PreventaGenix, with its Doric columns and grand portico, appeared to preside over the rest. They thought I was basically lazy and just wanted to have pain pills, just for whatever reason. Similarly, Young appeared to get the benefit of the doubt from virtually everyone. He never admitted to anything that would make him look bad. States largely rely on medical boards to regulate practitioners, but these entities have a reputation for leniency. They didnt openly harass anyone who criticized them. * This article has been clarified to more accurately convey the details of Gutgsell's plea. There is a friendliness, too, that one associates with the South. She doesnt believe the allegations against him, and chalks them up to pure jealousy. 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. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? In July 2016, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation began looking into allegations that Young was overprescribing opioids. The week that followed Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination was revolutionaryso why was it nearly forgotten? Youngs pursuit of fame culminated in his attempt to launch the Rock Doc television show. The music plays on.). 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. Even if the treatment doesnt work, it feels good to be listened to when youre used to being ignored. Many told me that they didnt want to talk on the record. His case before the nursing board stalled for two more years. 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. Young: Even get all gussied up for tonight. (Fades under.). Young was, in short, a medical provider who acted like everyones best friend. 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. Its hard to hear or believe that the only provider whod ever been kind to youwho made you comfortablehad been accused of abusing other patients. Jeffrey " Jeff " Young (born March 31, 1962) is an American guitarist. There was no statement even made to the Feds. Will be glad to take the balance out of your ass. He asked another patient, to whom he prescribed the opioid hydrocodone, to come in for a checkup the following day and wear a short skirt and no panties., Young was sometimes even more direct. Some sought counseling, slept under their beds, or carried guns. He made them feel comfortable in a way that no other doctor did. She was referred to Jeff by one of her friends. Scott Deberry: And, you know, once you get around the tattoos and the way he talkscause he talks to you as if hes talking to you on the streets As long as he was going to take care of me and make me feel okay, or make me feel better, I had no problem with that. They would shut off the power so they had an excuse to close the clinic on those days. Khazan: He worked in the timber industry, and one day at work, he got overheated and disoriented. Throughout Youngs year-long treatment of MY, Young failed to conduct pill counts, consult a state database meant to monitor the dispensing of controlled substances, and discuss with MY the risks of combining these drugs, according to the document. A Professional theme for architects, construction and interior designers Over that time, his online following grew. Though the system came slowly for Young, during the years he was being investigated America underwent a national reckoning about opioids. 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. ), (What sounds like road noise plays in the background of a Periscope clip. Moreover, throwing some glimpse of lights to his personal life, Dr. Jeff is a happily married man. Its gonna be a little cold, all right? 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. Khazan: Tanya had a different theory about where all the criticism was actually coming from. Former employees speculated that he met the women in bars. Young cries at his sons fifth-grade graduation, then explains that hes so emotional because his nurses are having their periods. LaRhonda Scott Deberry: When I first met him, I thought maybe he was prejudiced. Reitz says he and his girlfriend came up with the unwieldy namea futuristic combination of prevent and genetics. Young: (Just after another person laughs.) Calles: Yes. Young was by no means nationally or even regionally known. 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. 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. (Fades under.). Though criminal cases against doctors and nurse practitioners like Young are still relatively rare, they are growing more common. They learned to ignore it. The self-proclaimed "Rock Doc" is accused of trading powerful . Others accused me of seeking to discredit Young and slander his name. I have found accounts of at least 40 other medical providers in the country who have been accused of exchanging sex for addictive drugs. And Im like, Oh. [A beat.] 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. Thats the only way you can describe it. In August 2015, Young prescribed MY what the letter calls a dangerous combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant. Young: (Over hard-rock music.) (Young has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Calles: You could just tell by the demeanor that that was there. It was just rocked out. Young is . Angele Latham. This is Aalto. Listen to the trailer for, The Hard-Partying, Rock-Obsessed Nurse at the Center of a Massive Opioid Bust. 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? Jeff gets his nick name "Rock Doc" from his loyal patients. Young: So Im gonna not have a cigar. Dont worry, my tattoos dont like you either, one image reads. Naylor: And I remember him saying, Bring him to the office. After the hearing, Young was jailed pending his trial, which is currently scheduled to be held this spring. The judge denied this request, in part because, he wrote, Young has chosen to not wear a mask or practice social distancing consistently in jail., In September, Gutgsell, Youngs former office manager, pleaded guilty to federal charges for her involvement in prescribing opioids without a legitimate medical purpose.*. Khazan: When Jeffs indictment became public, LeAnnlike many of his former patientswas suspicious at first. 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. Ballard: When it comes to the high-society people, like the pharmacists and these other doctors that were out to get money out of their patientsJeff didnt care about the money. Federal prosecutors say his help often amounted to dealing drugs for sex. A former employee said that staffers had to go to Youngs houseanother McMansionto drag him out of bed, and that he would occasionally arrive at the clinic drunk. Khazan: There was this really big series of indictments that came down in 2019 where the federal government said, You know what? The resulting addictions were blamed on reckless patients, rather than the fundamental chemistry of the opioids themselves. But they helped create the opioid crisis all the same. (She did not want to be named for fear of jeopardizing her business.) 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