Dr. Kenneth Ralph Pinna, MD

He is not a nice doctor. Don’t take your kids here cause he is rude and just tells them there’s nothing wrong with them or that it’s something other than what it is. He acted like my daughter was more of a bother with her hives, rashes all over her skin and told her it was eczema when she hasn’t had eczema before but apparently she has according to him even though he’s never seen her before. She just recently had an allergic reaction breakout so her doctor sent her to an allergist because we couldn’t pin point what was making her breakout with an allergic reaction all over her body. Her face was swollen and had been the last 3 weeks after taking a medication. That’s not eczema! Don’t go to this doctor!

Dr Pinna is amazing. He helped my 6 year old son with asthma. Other doctors said he only has a cough. Explained to my son so he can understand. Medicine was immediately effective.

After moving to Utah from the Pacific Northwest, I became very ill due to numerous allergens in the environment in Southern Utah. I visited Dr. Pinna's office after having visited my primary care physician and another allergist in town covered by my insurance with no help whatsoever. I am so thankful I found this office. The staff are kind and understanding and have helped me with all of my insurance issues. I felt listened to and included in my treatment plan. Two thumbs up for Dr. Pinna and helping me to enjoy the beautiful landscape St. George has to offer.

I developed asthma as a child and thought I outgrew it in college. Since moving to St George my symptoms of severe shortness of breath and wheezing returned. I was seen in the ER and given steroids and told to follow up with doctor Pinna at the recommendation of the ER physician. Dr Pinna immediately understood the severity of my situation. He preformed allergy testing and a breath test to confirm that my diagnosis was moderate severity and likely do to an allergy to local sagebrush and grass. He prescribed a low cost generic Advair inhaler and got me off oral steroids. I am now breathing perfectly. Dr Pinna clearly showed that he is knowledgeable about asthma My entire experience was wonderful and his staff was professional and answered my questions. I would not hesitate to recommend his practice to others with allergies or asthma. I also liked how he was able to find a low cost generic inhaler.

This particular allergist isn't really all that caring about his patients. If you are asthmatic and live on a inhaler to breath and live, you will be required to be seen once a yr in order to obtain a refill prescription. They will hold your prescription hostage until you have made an appt. They don't call or inform you in any way that they have declined your refill. Dr Pinna stated that they have 1000's of patients and therefore do not have the time in the day to call their patients. Therefore, in this particular office, you are nothing more than a name and number with expiration dates and dollar signs. If your looking for a allergist that has YOUR health an interest in mind, this is not the one for you.

Worst excuse for a doctor I have ever experienced. Just wants to do test and shots. No help at all. Absolutely no exam, just unnecessary tests. Don't waste your time or money here.

Dr Pinna and his staff were very professional and thorough. They took a good deal of time with me and were very helpful

I took my child to Dr. Pinna to test for food allergies -- some of which we were already aware, and others found out at that appointment. It was helpful to know of other foods that should be avoided, but I could hardly read the scribbled sheet of test results and had to call back later to have the nurse go over it with me. They did a skin test, which was expected, but one thing I did not expect was that the nurse asked us to follow her into another room where she seated my child at an x-ray machine and took a CAT scan. At the time I was trusting that this was needed, but when I relayed our experience to my husband (who is a healthcare professional) he was very upset (to put it mildly). When my husband explained to me that it was totally unnecessary and unsafe to do a CAT scan on an 8-year-old (that there was no useful information the doctor could have gained from it), I cringed that I had not asked more questions. They never asked me if I was okay with it, but had me sit in the room… while it was done (I guess to acknowledge my acceptance). My husband explained that many doctors who purchase these expensive CAT scan machines will often take a CAT scan on every patient (at about $400 per scan -- insurance usually pays, so patients rarely question) because it pays for the machine and is a money maker for the doctor. My husband said that's one of the sales tactics used by the companies selling these devices -- that they not only pay for themselves, but produce income. Not to say that CAT scans may not be helpful and necessary in some situations, but in retrospect, I can see that for our case (allergies), this was not needed. I called the nurse later to ask why they had done the CAT scan and what useful information they could gain from it and she said it was to "check for obstructions in the nasal passages" -- this could (and was) easily done with a small scope that the doctor put up my child's nose. The doctor had not discussed with me that he had seen any obstruction that he felt needed further investigation via CAT scan, so I truly believe it was totally unnecessarily exposing my child to radiation (especially dangerous to a young child who is still developing). My final complaint is that they gave my child Benadryl at the end of the appointment to help with the inflammation on the back and arms due to the skin testing, but didn't give me any recommendation for what to do later if the symptoms did not subside. My child did have a significant reaction hours later which we were thankfully able to treat with medications we had on hand, but the hives, wheezing and itching was significant and we almost ended up at the ER that evening. I didn't much care for Dr. Pinna's bedside manner, either. He came across a bit flippant and condescending. I am grateful for the knowledge I gained about other foods we needed to avoid, but the overall experience was poor. I've since talked to other moms who've had the same experience and gotten recommendations for other allergy docs who can not only diagnose, but offer treatment options (no treatment options were offered -- only avoid the foods and make sure you have an Epi Pen on hand).

I was attempting to transfer a shot down. They were going to charge me over 5 times what the shot clinic I had been going to was charging, even though I get the drug for free through a grant program! and that was reluctantly after saying he wanted to change my diagnosis but wasn't going to get into that. Then, Dr. Pinna went on about how he didn't trust the doctor I went to before that had diagnosed me and that she was an idiot who didn't know what she was doing, but also making me feel like an idiot the whole time. He did waive the fee for my coming in, which was nice since he didn't do anything but make me feel like an idiot and tell me he couldn't help me. As I was leaving, he went on about how the office was back logged and how I did nothing but slow them down, especially since he wasn't going to bill me. I walked out of here feeling stupid and like I was nothing but a nuisance to him. Even if you can't help a patient, there's no reason to send hem away feeling like they did… nothing but get in the way. Doctors get paid a small fortune to help people. My being with the man for ten minutes isn't going to bankrupt him any time soon and I went to him because I (admittedly) don't know anything about medical stuff. That's why anybody goes to the doctor!

Staff was ok, but bedside manner was horrible. Didn't believe that I had hives when you could clearly see them. Gave me 10 days worth of amoxicillin before knowing if I for sure had strep throat, sent me a letter 7 days later stating I did not infact have strep throat. Because of the not needed amoxicillin, I then broke out in a huge rash. Will never return to this MD.