Where Science Ends and Wonder Begins in Edgewood, Paris

The hospitals of Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France are places of extraordinary human drama — birth, healing, loss, and occasionally, something that fits none of those categories. Physicians' Untold Stories collects the experiences that fall into that uncategorizable space: moments when physicians witnessed events that their training could neither predict nor explain. Dr. Kolbaba, himself a practicing internist for decades, understands the courage it takes for a colleague to say, "I saw something I cannot account for." These are not stories of fantasy. They are careful, measured accounts from people who understand anatomy, pharmacology, and the limits of the human body. And yet, what they witnessed suggested that those limits might not be where we think they are. Readers in Edgewood, Paris will find in these pages a bridge between the world of medicine and the world of mystery.

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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A Marine Corps veteran, Mayo Clinic-trained internist, and Chicago Magazine Top Doctor — Dr. Kolbaba brings decades of credibility to these extraordinary accounts.

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Medical Fact

Some emergency physicians report an uncanny silence that descends in a trauma bay at the exact moment a patient dies, despite ongoing equipment noise.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Edgewood, Paris

Physicians practicing in Edgewood, Paris, ÎLe De France 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 Edgewood, Paris 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 Edgewood, Paris 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

Some palliative care teams have begun documenting deathbed phenomena in patient charts, recognizing their significance to families and to the understanding of consciousness.

Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Edgewood, Paris

The Midwest's land-grant university hospitals near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France were built on the democratic principle that advanced medical care should be accessible to farmers' children and factory workers' families, not just the wealthy. This egalitarian ethos persists in the region's medical culture, where the quality of care you receive is not determined by your zip code but by the dedication of physicians who chose to practice where they're needed.

The Midwest's culture of understatement near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France extends to how patients describe their symptoms—'a little discomfort' meaning severe pain, 'not quite right' meaning profoundly ill. Physicians who understand this linguistic modesty learn to multiply the Midwesterner's self-report by a factor of three. Healing begins with accurate assessment, and accurate assessment in the Midwest requires fluency in understatement.

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Medical Fact

The human nose can detect over 1 trillion distinct scents, which is why certain smells in hospitals can trigger powerful memories of past patients.

Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Edgewood, Paris, ÎLe De France

The Midwest's revivalist tradition near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France—camp meetings, tent revivals, Chautauqua circuits—created a culture where transformative spiritual experiences are not unusual. When a patient reports a hospital room vision, a near-death encounter with the divine, or a miraculous remission, the Midwest physician is less likely to reach for the psychiatric referral pad than their coastal counterpart. In the heartland, the extraordinary is part of the landscape.

The Midwest's deacon care programs near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France assign specific congregants to visit, assist, and advocate for church members who are hospitalized. These deacons—often retired teachers, nurses, and social workers—provide a continuity of spiritual and practical care that the rotating staff of a modern hospital cannot match. They bring not just prayers but clean pajamas, home-cooked meals, and the reassurance that the community is holding the patient's place until they return.

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Did You Know?

The most-read chapter of Physicians' Untold Stories is about a woman with MS who made an inexplicable, complete recovery.

Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Edgewood, Paris, ÎLe De France

Scandinavian immigrant communities near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France brought a concept of the 'fylgja'—a spirit double that accompanies each person through life. Midwest nurses of Norwegian and Swedish descent occasionally report seeing a patient's fylgja standing beside the bed, visible only in peripheral vision. When the fylgja departs before the patient does, the nurses know what's coming—and they're rarely wrong.

The Chicago Fire of 1871 didn't just destroy buildings—it destroyed the medical infrastructure of the entire region, and hospitals near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France that were built in its aftermath carry a fire anxiety that borders on the supernatural. Smoke alarms trigger without cause, fire doors close on their own, and the smell of smoke permeates rooms where no fire exists. The Great Fire's ghosts are still trying to escape.

Types of Phenomena in the Book

Distribution across 26 physician accounts

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Did You Know?

The first successful separation of conjoined twins was performed in 1689 by Johannes Fatio in Switzerland.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

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Did You Know?

The first medical school in the United States was the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1765.

Paris: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge

Paris has a uniquely macabre relationship with the dead. Beneath the city lies a vast network of tunnels and ossuaries holding the remains of six million Parisians, transferred from overflowing cemeteries beginning in 1786. The Catacombs have inspired countless ghost stories and remain a site of reported paranormal activity. The Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette and thousands of others were imprisoned before their execution during the Revolution, is said to echo with the sounds of the condemned. The Palace of Versailles is reportedly haunted, with a famous 1901 account by two English academics—Charlotte Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain—who claimed to have slipped back in time and encountered Marie Antoinette in the gardens. The Phantom of the Opera legend was inspired by real events at the Palais Garnier, which was built over an underground lake and where a chandelier did fall and kill a spectator in 1896.

Paris has been a cornerstone of Western medicine for centuries. The Hôtel-Dieu, founded in 651 AD, is the oldest continuously operating hospital in the world. The city is where René Laennec invented the stethoscope in 1816 at the Hôpital Necker, Louis Pasteur developed the germ theory of disease and created vaccines for rabies and anthrax, and Marie Curie conducted her Nobel Prize-winning research on radioactivity that led to radiation therapy. Jean-Martin Charcot established the discipline of modern neurology at the Salpêtrière in the 1860s, and his student Sigmund Freud carried those ideas to Vienna. Paris was also the birthplace of modern surgery, with Ambroise Paré revolutionizing surgical techniques in the 16th century.

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About the Book

Dr. Kolbaba holds faculty appointments and has been involved in medical education throughout his career.

Notable Locations in Paris

The Paris Catacombs: This underground ossuary holds the remains of an estimated six million people transferred from overflowing cemeteries in the late 18th century, and visitors report ghostly encounters, disembodied whispers, and the sensation of being followed through its dark tunnels.

Père Lachaise Cemetery: Opened in 1804, this is the world's most visited cemetery, and visitors report ghostly encounters near the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and the medieval lovers Héloïse and Abélard.

Le Grand Rex Cinema: Built in 1932, this Art Deco cinema is reportedly haunted by a projectionist who died in the building, with staff reporting unexplained footsteps and equipment turning on by itself.

The Conciergerie: This medieval palace turned prison, where Marie Antoinette awaited execution in 1793, is said to be haunted by the queen and the thousands of prisoners who passed through during the Reign of Terror.

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris: Founded in 651 AD, the Hôtel-Dieu is the oldest hospital in the world still in operation, located on the Île de la Cité next to Notre-Dame Cathedral and has served Parisians continuously for nearly 1,400 years.

Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière: Founded in 1656, this massive hospital complex was where Jean-Martin Charcot founded the field of modern neurology and where Princess Diana was pronounced dead in 1997.

Hôpital Cochin: Established in 1780, Cochin Hospital is named after a priest who dedicated his life to caring for the sick and remains one of Paris's major teaching hospitals, known for its work in rheumatology and infectious diseases.

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About the Book

The book has been used in bereavement support groups as a tool for processing grief and finding hope.

How This Book Can Help You

Grain co-op meetings, Rotary Club luncheons, and Lions Club dinners near Edgewood, Paris, Île-de-France are unlikely venues for discussing medical mysteries, but this book has found its way into these gatherings because the Midwest doesn't separate life into neat categories. The farmer who reads about a physician's ghostly encounter over breakfast applies it to his own 3 AM experience in the barn, and the categories of 'medical,' 'spiritual,' and 'agricultural' dissolve into a single, coherent life.

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

Reader Ratings Distribution

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Research Finding

Yoga has been shown to reduce inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP) by 15-20% in regular practitioners.

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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