Dr. Cong Yu, MD - Pain Management in Seattle, Washington

“Horrible doctor absolutely no empathy! I had to fire him and get another doctor. Been stable ever since I left him and his clinic!”

— Brian Carroll

“As far as I'm concerned anyone giving Dr. Yu a negative review hasn't given him a chance. When I saw him the first time I was wondering if I should see him a second time. I have to drive a few hours to get to Swedish and I wanted to make sure my drive was worth it. Now, having seen him for about 7 years, I'm so glad he's my dr. My pain is manageable and the drive is well worth it. Since this review I've had a change of heart. Last time I saw Dr. Yu he was on one topic and I was on another topic. We couldn't connect and his impatience drove me away. I now see a different doctor. Dr. Yu is an excellent doctor but he needs to slow down and listen. His patience is limited.”

— Diane Weinman

“To be clear, I think Dr. Yu deserves 0 stars. Exhibits a severe lack of empathy; seems to hold himself in higher rank than patients; rushed & terrible communicator; does not prioritize patient wellness but max number of procedures. I am a PhD professor who teaches medical anthropology. Dr. Yu is a textbook case of someone who should not be in this line of work. And you don't need to be a PhD professor to know why--you just need to be a patient on the receiving end of his bad temper and poor service. My husband has suffered chronic pain related to his spine. His surgeon recommend a steroid shot, so he went and got one at another hospital. It didn't work because the person administering the shot delivered it in a spot other than what the surgeon had recommended. My husband then had surgery, to no avail. Enter our relationship with Dr. Yu, who was recommended for pain management. During the first visit, Dr. Yu did not impress. He rushed and did not listen. He made flippant remarks about patients with chronic pain becoming suicidal. He pushed a spinal stimulation chip that he is a fan of, but had no other plan except for another steroid shot. But the shot didn't work, we said. "That's because the guy who did it was too scared to put it in the right spot--it's risky. But I'm not afraid, and I will put it in the right spot," he claimed. So we decided to try the shot again. When the insurance denied it, Dr. Yu's office failed to appeal until we called them to remind them. During the next weeks, Dr. Yu left my husband in crippling pain with no medication or pain management plan, even though we let him know that my husband could not function. We asked about medicinal marijuana, pain medication, or ANYTHING else that he could suggest. He responded tersely, offering nothing meaningful. He was also shockingly ignorant of my husband's medical history, telling him to up the dosage of a drug that he was already maxing out--clearly he never read the patient's MyChart. We wrote to him asking, point blank, "What is your plan for pain management as the pain management doctor??" He reluctantly wrote a prescription for pain killers at an insultingly low dose that has no effect. The result was a patient in so much pain that he could not function in daily life. Finally, the shot was approved and we went to get it. We were received by Dr. Yu saying, "OK! Last procedure of the day!!!" He rushed through some waivers and blurted out that he was going to deliver the shot in THE SAME WRONG SPOT AS THE FIRST GUY DID. Mistakes happen, so it was just a matter of letting him know that the spot we needed was the spot the neurosurgeon had recommended, not the incorrect spot that had been treated previously. His assistant went to inform him. Dr. Yu did not deal with the confusion well. Or maybe he did not like feeling corrected. Or maybe the hospital overworks him and he can't handle all the stress. Whatever it was, it was ugly. He began by backpedaling and saying that the previous doctor hadn't done it wrong after all, rather, his technique may have been ineffective, and the shot is likely to work this time even if it didn't last time, etc. It was a lot to digest, didn't always make sense, especially since he was rushing and in a very bad mood. It wasn't just the information we were digesting but the prospect of having the procedure performed by a doctor who was angry and rushed. Not even two minutes had gone by when Dr. Yu grabbed his coat and said, "So that's it, you're not getting the shot." We said, "No, it's not that; we're just taking a minute to think about it." His response? "I don't have time for this! I have to be in the OR in 20 minutes!!!" Um, OK. We definitely didn't want a 30 minute procedure performed by a guy in a rush to be somewhere in 20 minutes, so we let him go. I feel VERY concerned about the patient in the OR, who was about to be operated on by a man in a rage. We will never visit Dr. Yu again. And we will be pursuing the matter with higher authorities in Swedish.”

— H. M.

“Dr Yu is every bit a professional. He is a bit short on words but Ihe has been my specialist for many years and I appreciate his knowledge and skills. I jokingly tell him at appointments he simply can not ever retire!”

— Jerri Ann Tuck