Gregory Matthew Sonnen, MD

We moved to Texas 10

Dr. Sonnen was the only pediatrician my children had ever seen until my 3rd child was born. Until L was born I was completely happy with my visits. Dr. Sonnen has a bit of a condescending tone naturally, but I always left feeling like I had a great doctor. He was fantastic with my premature daughter. When L was born, he had a slight case of torticullis (sp?). Dr. Sonnen advised us to get in contact with the state (early childhood intervention) so that we could get discounted therapy. We had no desire to go through the state and wouldn't have qualified anyways so I chose to take L to a therapist that was recommended to me by a friend. When I arrived I found out that L's prescription (I had no idea you needed an Rx to see a physical therapist!) had not been sent over. So at the rate of $15 per 30 minutes I called Dr. Sonnen's office. I was shuffled from receptionist to nurse and was told that the Rx was not sent because L had not had a full well child exam and asking why I went to a… different therapist when he had told me to go through ECI. Um, excuse me? I can take my child to any therapist I choose! He then refused to give me the Rx even though he knew I was at the therapist waiting on it. The well child appointment had NOTHING to do with the fact that my son needed the therapy that Dr. Sonnen himself had told me to get! On top of that I actually HAD taken him to the well child appointment, but had decided to hold off on his vaxes while I did a bit of research since my son was also premature. When I brought this up to the nurse she said that his well child appointment would not be considered complete until the vaccines had been given and I would not get the Rx without a complete well child appointment. Dr. Sonnen was simply upset that I was questioning the vaccines! I paid $85 to the therapist and we never actually did the therapy. I ended up heading to Care Now and explaining the situation to them, paid them another $75 for the appointment and headed back to the therapist with my Rx. We obviously have not been back to Dr. Sonnen's office since.

Dr. Sonnen was my daughter's doctor for about 15 months. He was great for the first nine months while she had nothing but well visits. Then she started developing continuous ear infections and threw up daily due to coughing that would not go away. He suggested an ENT who prescribed Singulair, an allergy medicine. It was a miracle drug for my sick girl! Dr. Sonnen was angry that my ENT gave us a prescription and very unprofessionally insisted on us not using it. Then a few weeks later, our daycare called and said my daughter had chicken pox. They were able to see her that afternoon, but Dr. Sonnen soon discovered that it was an allergy to almond milk. He asked my husband very rudely, "Don't you know the difference between an allergic reaction and chicken pox?" Of course he doesn't!! That's why we have a doctor! I called the next day and had my daughter's records transferred to Dr. Lisa Swanson in Mesquite. We've been with her for the last four years and she and her staff are GREAT!!

He was short with me when my husband was not with me. He also told me my daughter had a milk allergy which we have found to be untrue. Really worries me, I have also got bad advice when I called and told his nurse that my 2 month old was vomiting a lime green substance. They told me to only give her pedialite for 24 hours, it was the worst day ever, she was starving. Also, called his office to ask about a medicine to take while nursing and was told not to take it, went to his office on our next appt. and he told me no one told me that and I could take the med. then it ended up being the cause of her lime vomiting.

We brought our newborn in for routine checkup shortly after Dr Sonnen started his practice in Mesquite. That proved to be a lucky choice for us. He has been a great doctor for our two children. When our 2nd child had some problems, he put our concerns to rest and helped us find a great pediatric surgeon. He personally called twice after hours within a 10 hour period to make sure our son was improving when he contracted pneumonia. What other doctor does that these days?We are glad he has moved out of Mesquite-Baylor office too

We switched to Dr. Sonnen 4 months ago and he is wonderful. I had my older child with another pediatrician, but plan to move him over as well. The only issue I have encountered is making appointments. While I understand the policy, not being able to make "sick" appointments the afternoon before causes some scheduling issues in my profession.

Who would want to hold a sick 20 month old!? His job is to stay well so he doesn't get other children sick, not to mention he has a family of his own. I think the point of a Doctor is to prevent illness and heal the sick. It sounds like he was taking necessary precautions to do so. Dr. Sonnen is awesome. When I first started taking my children to him 4 years ago, I lived twenty minutes from his office. I now live about an hour and a half away, and I refuse to switch Dr's. My children have health issues, so this is not a yearly visit that I drive an hour and a half for, but more of a biweekly trip. It is well worth it. His staff of nurses are caring, the front office staff knows who I am when I walk in the door. When I have a question and I call Dr. Sonnen's nurse line, someone always calls me back within half an hour, and it is not uncommon for Dr. Sonnen to call me back himself, if my child's issue is important. I have received a follow-up call from him on a SATURDAY to check on my… child. He is VERY caring. He also always takes my concerns seriously. He has referred me to several specialists. So on the contrary to Dawn's post, I don't find him one bit arrogant, but rather fast to admit that he doesn't have all the answers, but he knows someone that will. I have three kiddos, four and under, and when we all go in it gets a bit hectic. He recruits my oldest to help him examine the babies. He is very caring, and all three of my children love him. My two month old just got a cold a few days ago, about 2 weeks after my four year old got her shots. She told the baby "I know a good Dr., Dr. Sonnen is a good Dr." I think that says alot considering she had just gotten shots. Dr. Sonnen is everything that I could ask for in a Pediatrician.

I was completely taken back by this doctor asking me to keep my sick 20 month old child away from him. Though I agree that he is extremely knowledgable he comes off as rude and belittling.