The Stories Medicine Never Says Out Loud in Aspen, Sejong

When Dr. David Dosa published his account of Oscar, the nursing home cat who predicted patient deaths with remarkable accuracy, in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007, he brought mainstream attention to a phenomenon that veterinary behaviorists and hospice workers had observed for years: animals appear to perceive impending death through senses that humans do not share. In Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong, therapy animals in hospital settings have exhibited similar behaviors—gravitating toward specific patients, displaying distress before clinical deterioration becomes apparent, and showing preference for rooms where death is imminent. "Physicians' Untold Stories" by Dr. Scott Kolbaba places these animal behaviors within a broader context of unexplained perception in medical settings, alongside human experiences of anomalous knowing that share the same essential quality: information arriving through channels that science has not yet identified.

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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"Amazing Tales. Doctor's book details unexplainable outcomes." — Wheaton Suburban Life

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Medical Fact

Doctors' handwriting is so notoriously illegible that it causes an estimated 7,000 deaths per year in the United States alone.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Aspen, Sejong

Physicians practicing in Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong 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 Aspen, Sejong 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 Aspen, Sejong 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

The average physician works 51 hours per week, with surgeons averaging closer to 60 hours.

Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong

Lutheran church hospitals near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong carry a specific Nordic austerity into their ghost stories. The apparitions reported in these facilities are restrained—no wailing, no dramatic manifestations. A transparent figure straightens a bed. A spectral hand closes a Bible left open. A hymn is sung in Swedish by a voice with no visible source. Even the Midwest's ghosts practice emotional restraint.

Tornado-related supernatural accounts near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong emerge from the Midwest's unique relationship with the sky. Survivors pulled from demolished homes describe entities in the funnel—some hostile, some protective—that guided them to safety. Hospital staff who treat these survivors notice that the most extraordinary accounts come from patients with the most severe injuries, as if proximity to death amplified whatever the tornado contained.

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Medical Fact

The liver is the only internal organ that can completely regenerate — as little as 25% can regrow into a full liver.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Aspen, Sejong

Medical school curricula near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong are beginning to include NDE awareness as part of cultural competency training, recognizing that a significant percentage of cardiac arrest survivors will report these experiences. The question is no longer whether to address NDEs in medical education, but how—with what framework, what language, and what balance between scientific skepticism and clinical compassion.

Midwest teaching hospitals near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong host grand rounds presentations where NDE cases are discussed with the same rigor applied to any unusual clinical finding. The format is deliberately clinical: presenting complaint, history of present illness, physical examination, laboratory data, and then—the patient's report of an experience that occurred during documented cardiac arrest. The NDE enters the medical record not as an oddity but as a finding.

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Did You Know?

Approximately 45% of Americans use some form of complementary or alternative medicine alongside conventional treatments.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

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Did You Know?

Dr. Kolbaba noted that oncologists were among the physicians most likely to report deathbed phenomena in their patients.

Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Aspen, Sejong

Midwest volunteer ambulance services near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong are staffed by farmers, teachers, and store clerks who respond to emergencies with a calm competence that would impress any urban paramedic. These volunteers—who receive no pay, little training, and less recognition—are the first link in a healing chain that extends from the cornfield to the OR table. Their willingness to serve is the Midwest's most reliable vital sign.

The 4-H Club tradition near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong teaches rural youth to care for living things—livestock, gardens, communities. Physicians who grew up in 4-H bring that caretaking ethic into their medical practice. The transition from nursing a sick calf through the night to nursing a sick patient through the night is shorter than it appears. The Midwest produces healers before they enter medical school.

Physician Burnout by Specialty

Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)

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Did You Know?

The word "nurse" derives from the Latin "nutrire," meaning "to nourish."

How This Book Can Help You

Dr. Kolbaba's background as a Mayo Clinic-trained physician practicing in Illinois makes this book a distinctly Midwestern document. Readers near Aspen, Sejong, Chungcheong will recognize the medical culture he describes: rigorous, evidence-based, deeply skeptical of anything that can't be measured—and therefore all the more shaken when the unmeasurable presents itself in the exam room.

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

Dr. Kolbaba practices internal medicine at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois.

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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