After a really upsetting experience with the office of Dr. Yuri Falkenstein (stay away!) Dr. Costigan was highly recommended. He is everything my last doctor wasn't. He is personable, highly expert, communicative, and gave me information about my herniated discs and spinal stenosis that I'd not heard before. He is invested in not only my physical health but also empathetic about how my pain has affected my life. He does not waste time. I was in dire need of relief from chronic pain and he acted within days, not weeks or months as was my previous experience. His is a God-given calling. [[HIGHLIGHT]]And I cannot say enough about his staff. Samantha, Caesar, everyone. I have never experienced the kind of care and followup from an office and surgical staff as I have here. They are all to be applauded.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] [[HIGHLIGHT]]It comes from the top - and Dr. Costigan has surrounded himself with like-minded people who take pride and find joy in helping others.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I don't know where my future back issues will take me, but I am confident that I am in the best hands possible. Congress Medical, in general, is spectacular. I had hip replacements by Dr. Todd Dietrick and the same kind of care, expertise, and trust was always present. read more

My insurance is Aetna Medicare PPO. [[HIGHLIGHT]]I checked with Aetna, last 11/2025, and was told doctor was in-network. I was told by Aetna to double check with provider which I did.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I saw the doctor on 11/2025 for a consultation. The following month I received a bill from Cedars Sinai/Aetna, labeled as out-of-network. [[HIGHLIGHT]]I contacted Aetna and they corrected the billing, after contacting doctor's office.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I saw the doctor on 1/13,26, 2/10/26 and 2/24/26. The actual epidural procedure was billed as in-network, but office visits out-of-network, same doctor and location. I was told by Cedars Sinai, that the extra charges were part of my deductible, wrong! I have Medicare and there is no deductible. Cedars Sinai and Congress Orthopedics merged 2024, so Cedars Sinai bills for the office visits. At no point was I told this would result in extra charges. The epidural caused severe side effects ended up in the ER, and no pain relief. On 05/25 saw a different surgeon and had no billing issues. read more

[[HIGHLIGHT]]If I could leave zero stars I would![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I was a little late to my appointment do to an incident on the freeway, i called no answer it had me leave a message no call back so we proceeded to go and [[HIGHLIGHT]]all the front office staff seemed very nice.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] They took us in did X-rays then brought in a Nurse practitioner (which was a stall tactic) [[HIGHLIGHT]]after 2 hours i finally got up and walked out after waiting for my appointment for over 2 months[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] they begged me to stay saying he would be coming in in another 5 minutes. Why would you make your NEW PATIENT wait 2 hours what horrible bedside manners! read more

If it's a bad back, you're close to the best surgeon in town. "Who"? you may ask: Dr. William Costigan, of Congress Associates in Pasadena. He's both competent and compassionate. Whatever the spinal complaint, he will determine and apply the most appropriate surgical solution. He is a dedicated surgeon, who won't settle for anything but perfection. He will combat the pain for as long as it remains. You can't do better than Dr. Costigan. Believe me, I know. I've been east and west---to the worst and the best. And you can't do better than Dr. Costigan. read more

Dr. Costigan took great care of me and advocated for me to get surgery right away to fix a herniated disc. I will make a full recovery because he took my situation seriously and did an excellent procedure. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Can't say enough good things about him.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more

[[HIGHLIGHT]]Dr. Costigan has been a great surgeon and even better friend![[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I had spinal fusion almost a year ago after years of steroid injections and pain meds! It wasn't the easiest but then again I'm 79 years old with a bunch of physical problems! I'm so glad I had the surgery, my back pain has been relieved a good 75% and I'm able to walk again thanks to Bill Costigan! read more

Dr Costigan is very knowledgeable and caring physician. He is very compassionate and gives excellent quality care to his patients. He also has a divine presence wherein he would pray with his patients before he does the surgery. He is a gift from God to everyone and goes above and beyond his service to his patient. His staff is outstanding and very helpful, polite, and warm hearted. I would highly recommend this doctor. read more

To the best spine doctor in the world! Dr. William Costigan. He freed me from my lower back pain! I had pain since 2005. I went to many other doctors, they just turned me away. Thank you so much Dr. Costigan! Today I gave him a plaque for going above and beyond! You never gave up read more

William Costigan, MD - Recognition for going above and beyond! - Orthopedists Near Me - Pasadena, California

I wish I could give zero! I seldom write reviews (having a very busy schedule) but I felt I needed to inform patients who might be in similar cases. He diagnosed me with " severe " disc degeneration. I never had back pain until recently (two weeks ago) following an awkward movement. He said I have severe arthritis and strongly recommended " a lumbar epidural steroid injection with 3 level Facet Joint Injection performed with use of fluoroscopy ",. Holding a PhD and being a scientist myself, I " researched " my condition and decided to have a second opinion from a nationwide renowned doctor who treats my colleagues and famous athletes. This second Doctor was chocked with my diagnosis!!!! I did not even have disc degeneration. He could not believe the doctor provided a false diagnosis and ordered injections just for extra $! It is a sad reality. Healthcare has became pure business. read more

Having had experience with another physician at Congress Medical and being extremely satisfied, I was very disappointed with Costigan. He spent less than 10 seconds reviewing my scans before making a diagnosis. I understand that with years of experience one can quickly recognize a problem, but the point of an office visit is to explain it to the patient. Costigan was minimally responsive to my questions and very dismissive. The interaction did not inspire trust when surgery was recommended. If you can't take the time to explain the diagnosis, treatment options, surgical outcomes, recovery time or success then how can I feel confident about allowing you to take a knife to my neck?? It may all be very routine to Costigan but clearly the lack of information or caring is a problem. Oh.....then there was the 2 hour wait beyond my appointment time too. read more

DR. Costigan is an amazing doctor. I had intense nerve pain down my neck into my shoulder from a protruding C3 disk. The pain was constant and driving me crazy. My insurance plan could not accommodate an epidural injection for at least another month. Dr. Costigan was able to get me in for an injection within 3 days! The pain relief was tremendously good and should hold me until the surgery that is scheduled for next month. I can't say enough about good things about this man, I only wish he could perform the surgery but I'm at the mercy of Kaiser If you are in need of spine related medical care you can rest assured that Dr. Costigan is the best. read more

Horrible service and bedside manner. Not only did he spend less than 5 minutes as I waited total of 2 hours to see him, he was extremely arrogant and dismissive with me when he saw my age and just started I was too young for surgery and "God bless,! Dr. Costigen this goes against every path you took as a Doctor to be kind, compassionate and caring. Do not waste your time, patience and energy with this arrogant place. read more

If ten stars were an option- he'd have received that! Dr. Costigan is a cut above. Period. Not only is he an outstanding surgeon, he's a very kind and compassionate human being. He cares, his staff cares and it's apparent from first appointment to the last follow-up. In September on 2017 I took a bad fall. I fractured my nose, scraped up my knees, shoulder and forehead...little did I know, I also ruptured a disc in my lower-back and herniated another! Shortly after my fall I quickly realized - my injuries were a bit more extensive than bruises and scrapes. I was suffering relentlessly. I had excruciating back spasms and cramping up & down my leg. I spent 8 weeks suffering and jumping through hoops for doctors at Cedars who had no time for me, and little if any empathy for my condition (I was in absolutely horrible pain). Fortunately, a woman friend- concerned for my wellbeing, referred me to Dr. Costigan. My situation improved immediately. My pain was addressed and a plan was put in place. Dr. Costigan spent time with me. He listened to me. Her reassured me. Her treated me. He made me well again. I'm four weeks out from surgery and my pain is completely gone. I'm back to work and light exercise. I'm so very thankful to Dr. Costigan- his staff, his wonderful surgery center and the amazing nurses. read more

Dr. Costigan has been my doctor for about 14 years now. There is no one else I would ever go to for orthopedics. He's very thorough, listens to your issue, carefully goes over any treatment necessary. My issues started with bursitis in my hips and now my shoulder and elbow. I have herniated discs in my lower back and have received facet blocks for those. He is the subject matter expert in all these areas and the master when it comes to the blocks. I drove for 5 years 400 miles to continue care with him and now I'm 90 miles. Lastly, he's the most trusting, caring, happy, and did I say humorous doctor I've ever known. Thank You Dr. Costigan for always taking care of me no matter what. Cindy Amen Brown read more

I don't like to leave a bad review of a doctor due to the scheduling practices of his staff, but I have to say that when you schedule an appointment for 3 PM, you arrive at 2:30 PM to fill out the necessary paperwork, and you are still waiting to be called at 3:55--when you have another appointment across the street at 4 PM (and they saw me on time!), that I would not recommend making an appointment if you plan to do anything else that day. The doctor may be exceptionally well-qualified, but rather than waiting 3 weeks to see him--the next available appointment--I scheduled with a specialist in Burbank who could see me in 5 days. read more

I highly recommend Dr. Costigan who has recently performed a microdiscectomy on my L5/S1 lumbar spine. I am so pleased with my results after just a few weeks post op. I am walking again with no pain, and owe so much to him for being a state of the art surgeon! And he referred me to a great physical therapist to speed along my recovery. The team at Congress Medical in Pasadena are fantastic! I am so blessed to have them helping me with all aspects of my care! Dr. Costigan is an amazing person who really wants to help his patients get healthy again. I could not hope for a better Surgeon! read more

William Costigan, MD - Dr. William Costigan - Orthopedists Near Me - Pasadena, California

Dr. Costigan is the best. He replaced 2 of my discs at the end of 2016. I wanted to write a review now that enough time has passed that I would have known if there were any complications. The scar is nothing like you would expect for that kind of surgery. Pain is also very minimal now, which was unbearable at the time of surgery. In my opinion, anybody that says anything bad about this doctor might have a personal agenda. Dr. Cositgan is a Christian who performs surgeries all over the world for people who can't afford them in third world countries. His bedside manner is second to none. His eye for detail is so adept that while I was getting x-rays for my back, he identified a fault in my lung that had nothing to do with the surgery he was being paid for. A respiratory surgeon is now treating me for that. He and his office moved Heaven and Earth to accommodate my medical needs. I could not be more grateful that God led me to this good man, clear in another state, as he was the best person for the job. His assistant, Cesar is great to work with as well. Sue in the billing office was a true angel, going far beyond her normal scope of duties to assist me in putting this all together from out of state. I just can't say enough good things about Dr. Costigan and his wonderful staff. God bless you all. read more

I looked up to this man like a big brother and trusted him. I saw him for over a decade in total. I tried cancelling my surgery with him in 2007 because it was not necessary since I was playing sports again. it was reiterated to me that the surgery was very low risk and that Dr. Costigan felt it could really help me with my nagging back pain. I consented to the low risk procedure to remove screws from my back and I was to be fully recovered from in a month. After the surgery, I noticed saddle numbness and severe tailbone pain. I called Dr. C and was told not to worry, that it was just inflammation and an mri was scheduled for 5 days later. (what a relief right, wrong) The numbness started to clear up but there was still new pain in the back and tailbone. The MRI said I was structurally sound and I thought he had a handle on things given the progress. I returned to work a month later, and after a week I started experiencing violent perineal shocks when getting in and out of chairs or cars that just dropped me to the floor in agony. He told me his surgery had gone perfectly and nothing he did could have caused this type of pain. Attention was directed to my tailbone and injections were done. I did physical therapy. He gave me really no explanation aside from me having sensitive nerves. He then blamed scar tissue from my previous surgery causing my problems and offered to do a spinal cord stimulator. Later he recommended a fusion to address my back pain because my disc became progressively worse. My back pain wasnt my real complaint though. It was these shocks! I got more opinions from neurosurgeons because I wanted to consider a minimally invasive approach since we had little explanation for these shocks. I even considered hip surgery and piriformis surgery as approaches to my perineal pain. Long story short, 5 years from Dr. Costigan's surgery, I found a surgeon in Marina Del Rey that essentially saved my life because this pain was unbearable. In surgery, he found an "old dural sac violation" that had left my spinal cord nerves exposed hanging out which is why movements were shocking me. I'll let you decide where it came from. He closed it up and then, post surgery, completely blew my mind away discussing it with me. How does something like this get missed? The shocks are gone with some pinching here and there at times. I'm left with other permanent damage including tailbone pain as well but at least I can walk, right? Oh ya and when 3 years passes, legally, the statute of limitations runs out in case you were wondering. read more

He has two Yelp accounts.. So same review Had a very negative experience with Dr. Costigan. My girlfriend's mom had a bad accident at a hospital where she works that resulted in bulging disks amongst other complications and they went to Dr. Costigan who was very helpful until they told him they were not interested in having back surgery, which he recommended, because of the 90% long term failure rate which typically results in worse pain (they got some second opinions from Harvard Mds to be sure.) At that point the good Dr. was completely unwilling to help with further treatment, discharged her as a patient and recommended that my girlfriend's mom take narcos for the pain and go back to work as a nurse.... He had a blank expression on his face after they told him they did not want surgery, which obviously came from the fact that he would not profit from performing a harmful surgery. It seems like that was all he was interested in, getting them to do a painful surgery and did not care at all for the long term well being of his patient. This is in clear violation of the hyppocratic oath he took as a doctor to do no harm. Looking at other reviews it seems like this was not a unique experience. read more

Wish I could add a few more stars! I work in a hospital and am very familiar with the healthcare world and physicians. Dr. Costigan and the staff at Congress Medical are outstanding! They were very compassionate and caring throughout my treatment. Dr. Costigan always makes sure you understand your medical condition and your options for treatment. My recent surgery and recovery is quickly moving in the right direction. I am looking forward to hiking and traveling again. I highly recommend Dr. Costigan. read more

The doctor as a person and as a Surgeon are fantastic!. Downfall Is the wait time to see him I was scheduled for an appointment at 2:45 and at 4:30 I still had not gotten in. I spoke to his staff and told them I feel that my time is as valuable as his and maybe I should bill them for my time and I left. I called a week later and try to reschedule and I was told by his staff not to come back because of my attitude. I guess his staff believes that they're better than his patients and that we should wait because that's just what you should do. I don't mind waiting an hour but getting close to two is ridiculous the other patients that were sitting next to me were booked at the same time as I was yet there's staff told me we only book one patient every 15 minutes that was a lie. Again if you want to good doctor he is definitely one you just have to put up with waiting and I wasn't willing to do this on a regular basis as this was not the first time I waited almost 2 hours. read more

Excellent doctor. He performed a micro discectomy on my lower back and everything went great: no sciatic leg pain upon waking, no swelling at incision site, no pain killers taken after going home that afternoon, etc. It was like a miracle waking up to no leg pain after dealing with it for months. I definitely made the right decision to have this procedure preformed. The surgery center is top notch too. Much more comfortable than going to the hospital. Great, attentive nurses too. I can't thank the doctor enough for restoring my quality of life. I'd highly recommend Doctor Costigan to anyone. read more

Dr Costigan is a life saver....literally! My husband woke up on a Saturday morning in Dec 2016 with really bad back pain. He mistakenly went to the chiropractor that day to get adjusted thinking that would help relieve the pain. It did the opposite. His pain went up exponentially for the rest of the day to the point where he could not even walk the following morning. He was taken by ambulance to the ER. He got an x-ray that didn't show anything and some heavy duty pain meds and sent home. From that day on it only got worse. But with the x-ray showing nothing we thought it was just muscle strain. We went to his orthopedist who prescribed more pain meds and told him he'd be fine in a few weeks. We then tried some muscle stimulating therapy for a few weeks that seemed to work a little. But then he started experiencing sciatic shooting pains all throughout the day. When that started we were referred to Dr Costigan. The moment we walked in he asked us if he had gotten an MRI done. Thinking his orthopedist would've said to get one if he thought it necessary but didn't, he hadn't gotten one. But also, my husband has a pacemaker so an MRI was out. He did get a CTScan. We got that done on a Tuesday morning and by that afternoon we were back at Dr Costigan's office with the results. Turns out he had an infection that had attached to his spinal cord. Dr C immediately sent Clark to Huntington Memorial for admittance to start an aggressive round of antibiotics and to be seen by an infectious disease doctor. We would find out that he had to have 6 weeks of IV antibiotics and then we could discuss surgery for any damage done to his spine. After 3 weeks of antibiotics at home, the sciatic spasms were not any better. Clark was sleeping every night in a recliner, waking up every few hours screaming in pain. We also had to take him back to the ER for his agony. So we went back to Dr C to see if he could do the surgery before the 6 weeks were up. He said he had to confer with the infectious disease dr first. So the following day we went to see that doctor. He agreed to let Dr Costigan do the surgery, and then continue on and finish with the IV meds after. BEST DECISION EVER! Surgery was done 2 weeks later (longest 2 weeks ever). The morning of the surgery was a very scary time for both of us. We knew it was the best decision but still scary. In the prep room Dr C came in to see us and prayed with us. Such an awesome gift for us. The moment Clark woke up from surgery he was pain free. Turns out the infection had caused damage to 3 discs and inflamed the area around the sciatic nerve causing the spasms. Dr C fused this damaged discs, put a spacer in to strengthen his spine and cleaned out the damage around his sciatic nerve. He is a new man. He is still healing and doing physical therapy but on the road to recovery. We are so thankful for Dr Costigan and his staff. This was the hardest thing we have ever been through, Clark with the pain and me watching him go through it. It was horrible. But it is a new day thanks to him. We cannot thank him enough for walking us through this dark journey. read more