Dr. Donald Trent Ellenburg, MD

Don Ellenburg is a total wack job. Mental, delusional, very hostile and angry. Definitely achieved his status in Knoxville as THE WORST "allergist" ever. Sad that his STAFF had to give him 5 star ratings. Sick man.

My review is to (hopefully) stop someone else from being charged waaaaaaaaay too much money without their knowledge or consent. I was a first time patient and was told as a self pay client that my initial visit would be $250.00. I understood this and was fine with that, especially since I knew and could plan accordingly. I was also told that if additional tests (outside of the standard first time patient tests) were needed there could be an additional charge. This is common in all doctor offices. As a self pay patient for many years now, I have come to know this very intimately. However, I have also always been informed of if or when such a test was necessary, and told the price, allowing me the privilege and the right to decide if I wanted to proceed. This was NOT the case with Dr. Ellenburg. As a new patient, how am I supposed to know what initial tests are part of the standard visit and what is extra? I came in had a breathing test done. They got some vitals, asked a few questions… about what I had been experiencing and was told the next part of the visit would require a scratch test, where I was poked with small amounts of various allergies. After that test, the nurse looked over a few things and filled out a chart with my results while we were waiting for Dr. Ellenburg. However, when he looked it over, he made the nurse change a few things on the chart. She didn't seem to think it was necessary and even said, "Oh thats right, I forgot you like to do things this way." Maybe that should have been my clue to chime in and ask what was happening, but again, in the last 8 years of visiting different doctors offices as a self pay patient, I have ALWAYS been told if something extra was needed before administering the test or procedure. When the Dr. ordered another test, I assumed it was part of the initial first time visit for developing a baseline for treatment. After the second test, the doc told me my results and gave me advice about what medications I could take and that I might want to consider getting shot treatments. He kind of pushed that idea, but I didn't think anything of it at the time. I paid my $250 and left with another appointment on the books for fall. Then I got a bill in the mail saying that I owed an additional $600! One test alone was $450 of that total. I would have never agreed to that. I don't have that kind of money just lying around. I tried to give the Dr a chance to make things right. Called in to see if a self pay discount was available (Every other office I have ever visited offers a discount) and was told that it wasn't, but that they would check with the Dr. to see if he would be willing to make any adjustments. It took three months and three phone calls before I finally got an answer of basically, sorry, you still owe the money. He did decide to give me 10% off. I think that is unethical. It feels like Dr. Ellenburg stole from me. He did a test that the nurse didn't even think was necessary, never told me it was additional, and then refused to own up to it later and do what was right. He should have never given me a test I didn't know was an extra service without my knowledge. After reading other reviews, I see that I am not the only patient who feels that money is the bottom line for his practice. After the small discount my total bill was $764. I paid almost $800 dollars to be told I had allergies (which I already knew) and given advice on when to start taking over the counter allergy meds, or to come in a pay for the shot therapy that would cost me almost $5000 when all was said and done. NO thank you. If you don't have severe or serious problems, don't waste your time or money. It isn't worth it. On a positive note, the front desk, nurses, and even Dr. Ellenberg were polite and friendly. But I don't believe he truly has the best interest of the client at heart. If he did, he would have made sure I could afford the extra $600, but he didn't and he didn't take it off the bill either which would have been the right thing to do , since he made the mistake. It is absolutely wrong to charge people money for services they would have never agreed to.

I went to Dr. Ellenburg for a recurring issue I was having regarding food. My first appointment to see him was a month before I was moving out of state for college. The wait time to get in to see him was over an hour (minus the several times we had to call his office to get ahold of them). First, he blatantly criticized me for the way I was handling the issue. Then while he was examining me he made me feel very uncomfortable (holding my hands twice for an unknown reason). I went with my mother, and it wasn't until my father dropped in that he treated the situation seriously. Then, after doing a general allergy test that had little reaction, he told me I could go into anaphylactic shock if I ate certain foods, but did not prescribe an epipen or make any further suggestions. I had to go to get blood drawn at a different location, and Dr. Ellenburg's office did not send the correct tests and would not tell the people who were taking my blood what the correct tests were. So they ended up… taking twice the amount of blood they should have so I wouldn't have to come back. It took weeks to get the results from Dr. Ellenburg. My mother called them 8 times, and it wasn't until the day I was moving away that his office decided they would schedule an appointment. He found the results of the tests to be inconclusive and did not give me any advice to deal with the issue I had been having. If you can go to anyone else other than him, please do. The wait time alone is enough, but the experience afterwards sealed the deal for me.

I've been a patient of his practice for many years. He's the owner of the practice and obviously only cares about the money and not the quality of care for his patients. He berated me as a father would do a child. Find another doctor, he's just a horrible person and doesn't know how to deal with people on a professional doctor/patient level.

Dr Ellenburg is rude and nasty, changes medications because he and his staff are too lazy to fill out prior authorization forms and makes negative comments about dealing with TNCare. He also tells people how “old school” he is...then rants about dealing with insurance companies instead of focusing on patient care. Horrible experience.

The Best.

Once in the room your wait time before the doctor to actually come in is about an hour or longer.

Dr. Ellenburg has seen 2 of my teens and Dr. Singer has seen 1 of my teens. Both docs were courteous and concerned with their overall health and allergies. They took extra time and interest with my kids. Dr. Ellenburg was instrumental in referring my daughter to a rheumatologist when he became concerned about her elevated ANA levels, which led to her arthritis diagnosis. He was genuinely friendly and encouraging. I'm sorry to hear that some patients did not have a good experience with him. We will continue to see him as our allergist.

Waited over 2 hours to be seen by the PA. PA stated she was taking my daughter off of allergy shots and was doing well. She went to confer with Dr. Ellenburg who came into the exam room. He had never seen my daughter before or even talked to my family before. He gave my husband and I a long speech about how we where harming our child (by having pets). He was rude to us and made myself and my daughter cry. Then proceded to demand us to get rid of all our pets. There is a right way and wrong way to go about things, and he was totally rude. Instead of stating " This is how I feel and yadda, yadda, yadda" He came in the room and said " You are harming your child, get rid of all your pets. Don't let her be outside, no pumpkin patch, no corn maze, no hike in the woods, no being around grass, no pets." Personally I feel that I can't put her in a bubble and I am not going to keep her from being a child. As a parent I will limit her exposure to allergens when possible but we have to live. As… a family we can not stay inside all the time. Again, he was very rude to us in the manner in which he spoke to us. I have never been talked to like that by a anyone in all my life. I have since changed to another allergist who was much nicer and didn't make us wait 2 hours to be seen.