The Miracles Doctors in Arcadia, San Francisco Have Witnessed

What happens when a surgeon pauses before making an incision to pray? When a chaplain's visit to a patient's bedside coincides with an unexpected improvement in vital signs? When a study published in a peer-reviewed journal finds that patients who are prayed for recover more quickly than those who are not? These are the questions that animate Dr. Scott Kolbaba's "Physicians' Untold Stories," and they carry special resonance for the people of Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba, where faith and healthcare have always been intertwined in the lives of families and communities. Kolbaba's book brings these questions out of the realm of anecdote and into the realm of evidence, offering documented accounts that challenge comfortable assumptions about where medicine ends and faith begins.

Dr. Scott Kolbaba

About the Author

Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD is an internist at Northwestern Medicine in Wheaton, Illinois. He interviewed more than 200 physicians about their most extraordinary experiences.

Book cover

Physicians' Untold Stories

by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD4.5 stars (1018 reviews)

Miraculous experiences doctors are hesitant to share with their patients, or ANYONE!

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"I just read your book and was inspired, moved, entertained. I can't wait to share this book with premeds." — D.G., Ophthalmology Professor, University of Illinois

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Medical Fact

Community supported agriculture (CSA) participation is associated with increased vegetable consumption and reduced food insecurity.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Arcadia, San Francisco

Physicians practicing in Arcadia, San Francisco, CóRdoba work at the intersection of modern medicine and experiences that resist explanation. In conversations that rarely leave the break room or the on-call suite, doctors in and around Arcadia, San Francisco have reported encounters with phenomena that their training never prepared them for — from patients who describe verifiable details about events that occurred while they were clinically dead, to deathbed visions shared simultaneously by multiple family members, to recoveries that defy every prognostic model available.

The medical community in Arcadia, San Francisco includes physicians across every stage of their careers — residents navigating the exhaustion of training, mid-career practitioners balancing clinical demands with family life, and veteran physicians carrying decades of experiences that challenge the boundaries of conventional medicine. Burnout touches all of them differently, but a common thread runs through: the desire to remember why they chose medicine in the first place, and the rare but profound moments that remind them.

Physician Burnout by Specialty

Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)

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Medical Fact

Spending 120 minutes per week in nature — in any combination — is associated with significantly better health and wellbeing.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Arcadia, San Francisco

Community hospitals near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba where physicians know their patients personally are uniquely positioned to document NDE aftereffects—the lasting psychological, spiritual, and behavioral changes that follow near-death experiences. A family doctor who's treated a patient for twenty years can detect the subtle shifts in personality, values, and life priorities that NDE experiencers consistently report. This longitudinal observation is impossible in large, rotating-staff medical centers.

The Midwest's public radio stations near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba have produced some of the most thoughtful NDE journalism in the country—long-form interviews with researchers, experiencers, and skeptics that treat the subject with the same seriousness applied to agricultural policy or education reform. This media coverage has normalized NDE discussion in a region where public radio is as influential as the local newspaper.

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Medical Fact

Surgeons who play video games for at least 3 hours per week make 37% fewer errors and perform tasks 27% faster than those who don't.

Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Arcadia, San Francisco

The Midwest's tradition of potluck dinners near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba has been adapted by hospital wellness programs into community nutrition events. The concept is simple: bring a dish, share a meal, learn about health. But the power is in the gathering itself. People who eat together care about each other's health in ways that isolated individuals don't. The potluck is preventive medicine served on paper plates.

Midwest medical marriages near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba—the partnerships between physicians and their spouses who answer phones, manage offices, and raise families in communities where the doctor is always on call—are a form of healing infrastructure that deserves recognition. The physician's spouse who brings dinner to the office at 9 PM, who fields emergency calls at 3 AM, who keeps the household functional during flu season, is a healthcare worker without a credential or a salary.

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Did You Know?

Approximately 1 in 5 Americans has reported a mystical or spiritually transformative experience at some point in their life.

Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Arcadia, San Francisco, CóRdoba

Polish Catholic communities near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba maintain healing devotions to the Black Madonna of Czestochowa—a tradition brought across the Atlantic and sustained through generations of immigration. Hospital rooms in Polish neighborhoods sometimes display replicas of the icon, and patients who pray before it report a comfort that transcends its artistic merit. The Black Madonna heals homesickness as much as physical illness.

Christmas Eve services at Midwest churches near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba—candlelit, hushed, with familiar carols sung in harmony—produce a collective peace that spills over into hospital wards. Chaplains report that Christmas Eve is the quietest night of the year in Midwest hospitals: fewer call lights, fewer complaints, fewer codes. Whether this reflects the peace of the season or simply lower census, the effect on those who remain in the hospital is measurable.

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Did You Know?

The human body produces about 1 ounce of tears per hour during crying — enough to fill a bathtub over a lifetime.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

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Did You Know?

The human body can detect temperature changes as small as 0.01°C through specialized nerve endings in the skin.

San Francisco: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge

San Francisco's haunted reputation begins with Alcatraz, where the ghosts of notorious inmates are said to linger in the cellblock. Utility Corridor D, known as 'The Hole,' where prisoners were locked in total darkness as punishment, is considered the most actively haunted area, with visitors reporting screaming, crying, and sudden temperature drops. The city's Chinatown, the oldest in North America, has its own ghost traditions, with stories of opium den spirits and tunnels beneath the streets haunted by victims of the tong wars. The 1906 earthquake, which killed an estimated 3,000 people, left a spectral residue across the city, with numerous buildings in the rebuilt city reported to be haunted. The Sutro Baths ruins at Land's End, where the grand Victorian swimming complex burned in 1966, are said to echo with the sounds of swimmers and splashing water. The San Francisco Columbarium, one of the few remaining buildings from the former cemetery district, is noted for unusual spiritual activity.

San Francisco's medical history is marked by its pioneering response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When the mysterious disease began devastating the city's gay community in the early 1980s, San Francisco General Hospital established Ward 5B—the world's first dedicated AIDS ward—in 1983, creating a model of compassionate care that was replicated globally. UCSF researchers were at the forefront of identifying the virus and developing treatments, including early antiretroviral therapies. The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed most of the city's medical infrastructure, leading to innovative field hospital operations. UCSF Medical Center has become one of the world's top academic medical centers, with groundbreaking work in organ transplantation, neurology, and cancer research. San Francisco was also the birthplace of the 'harm reduction' approach to public health, pioneering needle exchange programs and safe injection sites.

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About the Book

Dr. Kolbaba has been an advocate for creating safe spaces where physicians can discuss spiritual experiences without judgment.

Notable Locations in San Francisco

Alcatraz Island: The former federal penitentiary, which housed infamous criminals like Al Capone and the 'Birdman,' is considered one of the most haunted places in America, with park rangers and visitors reporting cell doors slamming, ghostly figures, and banjo music from Al Capone's cell.

The Queen Anne Hotel: This 1890 Victorian mansion, formerly Miss Mary Lake's School for Girls, is said to be haunted by Mary Lake herself, who reportedly tucks guests into bed and leaves impressions on the mattress.

San Francisco Art Institute: Built on the site of a cemetery destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, the institute's tower is considered haunted, and a mysterious painting of a figure allegedly appears and disappears on the walls.

The Curran Theatre: This 1922 theater on Geary Street is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a ticket-taker named Hewlett Tarr who died in the theater and continues to appear in the balcony.

UCSF Medical Center: A world-renowned academic medical center consistently ranked among the top ten hospitals in the United States, known for pioneering work in organ transplantation and HIV/AIDS treatment during the early epidemic.

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital: The city's primary public hospital and Level I trauma center, which played a historic role in the early AIDS crisis of the 1980s when Ward 5B became the world's first dedicated AIDS ward.

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About the Book

Dr. Kolbaba has stated that the book was not written to prove anything, but to share stories that deserve to be heard.

How This Book Can Help You

The Midwest's culture of humility near Arcadia, San Francisco, Córdoba makes the physicians in this book especially compelling. These aren't doctors seeking attention for extraordinary claims; they're clinicians who'd rather not have had these experiences, who'd prefer the tidy certainty of a normal medical career. Their reluctance to speak is itself a form of credibility that Midwest readers instinctively recognize.

Physicians' Untold Stories book cover — by Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD

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Research Finding

Group therapy for physician burnout has been shown to reduce emotional exhaustion scores by 25% within 6 months.

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Discover the Stories Medicine Never Says Out Loud

Physicians' Untold Stories by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD4.5 stars from 1018 readers.

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Physicians' Untold Stories by Dr. Scott Kolbaba

Amazon Bestseller

The Stories Medicine Never Told You

Over 200 physicians interviewed. 26 true stories of ghost encounters, near-death experiences, and miraculous recoveries that will change the way you think about life, death, and what lies beyond.

By Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD — 4.5★ from 1,018 ratings on Goodreads