Thread by @BrettKelman

For 4 years, Tennessee's state health agency investigated a nurse practitioner who dressed like a rock star and called himself a doctor. It found evidence he was doing bad things. Did it stop him from prescribing? From seeing patients? No. This is a thread. It’s gonna get weird.

For the last few months, @CStephenson731 and I have been researching "Rock Doc" Jeff Young. Our story publishes today in @Tennessean and @JSunNews. You need to be a subscriber to read it. Just in case you aren’t one yet, I’m going to tweet some highlights. tennessean.com/story/news/hea…

You may have heard of Jeff Young. The feds indicted him for drug trafficking in April. He’s accused of trading drugs for sex and notoriety for his “Rock Doc” brand. Prosecutors said he prescribed more than 1.4 M pills and 1500 fentanyl patches in just 3 years. (That’s a lot.)

But, long before the feds indicted Young, he was investigated by the Tennessee Department of Health. It’s their job to discipline medical professionals and stop irresponsible prescribing. The state claims these investigations are confidential. I don’t care. Young’s must be known.

The health department got 13 complaints against Young since 2015. It discovered he wrote irresponsible prescriptions for dangerous combos of drugs. He gave some patients opioids, benzodiazepines and muscle relaxers all at once. They call that the “holy trinity” of drug abuse.

In a specific case, one of Young’s patient took 70 anti-anxiety pills at once. Young knew. He kept prescribing to the patient anyway. The patient later overdosed and died.

After this death, the health department tried to get Young to surrender his ability to prescribe. Young wouldn’t cooperate. The department eventually caved. They agency put his nurse practitioner license on probation but let him keep prescribing non-opioid drugs like Xanax.

The department also investigated Young for rape. They couldn’t substantiate this claim, but they did learn from his employees he was regularly having sex with his patients at his clinic. One employee described sex that “did not appear consensual.”

Although Young was already on probation, he didn’t face any more discipline for sex with patients. The health department also agreed to keep the matter confidential. (Whoops.) Young kept prescribing.

At this point, you might be wondering if I am exaggerating. You might suspect that I am making Young sound more dangerous than he really was to magnify the scandal of this story. Maybe the health department wasn't really worried about Jeff Young at all?

No. They were scared of him. Several investigators working on Young's case admitted to a supervisor they feared for their safety. In fact, the lead investigator testified she was so “fearful” of Young she started carrying a gun while at work. But they let him keep prescribing.

In the midst of all of this, Young tried to launch a reality show. Really? Yes, really. He published a pilot for Rock Doc TV on YouTube. Nobody picked it up. Regrettably, I’ve watched it five times.

At one point in the pilot, Young is in his clinic when he smells a pair of women’s underwear and pretends that he can tell if she is young or hot. “Twenty-three, brown hair, green eyes, amazing body …” he says. The state knew about this video too. They let him keep prescribing.

This next tidbit is not in my story, but it is too bizarre not to share.

Remember how I said Young was investigated for rape? Strangely, in the Rock Doc TV pilot, one of Young’s friends goes out of his way to say, without prompting, that Young is NOT a rapist.

This not-a-rapist quote is not only in the reality TV pilot, it's in the TRAILER. For some unholy reason, the trailer is still online.

That’s just a peek at the very worrisome world of Jeff Young and the state investigation into his clinic. There are many more details in our story, including allegations about selling testosterone to teenagers and sex with an semi-conscious woman. It's all kinds of bad.

In the near future, @CStephenson731 and I are publishing a follow-up investigation focused on Young’s troubling relationship with local cops.

Short version: He gave them drugs. They gave him favors.

Both of these stories will be limited to subscribers of our newspapers. This is a new strategy for our publications. Without a doubt, it will piss some people off. I’m not crazy about it, but I know it is necessary.

Our journalism has value. It deserves support. Support comes from subscribers. Subscribers like you. tennessean.subscriber.services

Thank you for reading this thread. Please consider reading the story. If you don’t have a digital subscription, just buy one already. They are embarrassingly cheap.

We need you. And you need us. Let’s brave this beautiful, nasty, glorious, corrupt and complex world together.

P.S.: If you nothing else from this thread, follow @CStephenson731. She is a talented young journalist. She has big things in her future. If you follow her now you will look smart later.