What Physicians Near Foxborough, Seoul Have Witnessed — And Never Shared

The phenomenon of "distressing" or "hellish" near-death experiences — NDEs that include frightening imagery, a sense of isolation, or encounters with hostile entities — represents an important and often overlooked aspect of NDE research. Dr. Bruce Greyson, Nancy Evans Bush, and other researchers have documented these experiences, which occur in an estimated 10-15% of all NDEs. Distressing NDEs challenge the assumption that all near-death experiences are blissful, but they also reveal important patterns: many distressing NDEs transform into positive experiences during the course of the NDE, and nearly all experiencers interpret them retrospectively as ultimately meaningful. For Foxborough, Seoul readers, the inclusion of distressing NDEs in Physicians' Untold Stories demonstrates Dr. Kolbaba's commitment to presenting the full spectrum of physician experience, not just the comforting cases.

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Medical Fact

Your blood makes up about 7% of your body weight — roughly 1.2 to 1.5 gallons in an average adult.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Foxborough, Seoul

The medical community in Foxborough, Seoul 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.

Foxborough, Seoul's healthcare landscape reflects broader patterns in Seoul Metropolitan's medical system — the pressures of modern practice, the isolation that comes from witnessing extraordinary events without a framework to discuss them, and the gradual erosion of meaning that drives so many physicians toward burnout. Yet it is precisely in communities like Foxborough, Seoul that the unexplained tends to surface most vividly, in moments that practicing physicians remember for the rest of their careers.

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Medical Fact

There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people on Earth.

Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan

The Midwest's deacon care programs near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan 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.

The Midwest's tradition of hospital chaplaincy near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan reflects the region's religious diversity: Lutheran chaplains serve alongside Catholic priests, Methodist ministers, and occasionally Sikh granthis and Buddhist monks. This diversity, far from creating confusion, enriches the spiritual care available to patients. A dying farmer who says 'I'm not sure what I believe' can explore that uncertainty with a chaplain trained to listen rather than preach.

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Medical Fact

A healthy human heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through the body every day.

Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan

The Chicago Fire of 1871 didn't just destroy buildings—it destroyed the medical infrastructure of the entire region, and hospitals near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan 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.

The German immigrant communities that settled the Midwest brought poltergeist traditions that manifest in hospitals near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan as unexplained object movements. Surgical instruments rearranging themselves, bed rails lowering without anyone touching them, IV poles rolling across rooms on level floors—these phenomena, dismissed as coincidence individually, form a pattern that Midwest hospital workers recognize with weary familiarity.

Types of Phenomena in the Book

Distribution across 26 physician accounts

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Did You Know?

Approximately 20% of the oxygen you breathe is used by your brain — more than any other organ.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Foxborough, Seoul

The Midwest's nursing homes near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan are quiet repositories of NDE accounts from elderly patients who experienced cardiac arrests decades ago. These aged experiencers offer longitudinal data that no prospective study can match: the lasting effects of an NDE over thirty, forty, or fifty years. Their accounts, recorded by attentive nursing staff, are a resource that researchers are only beginning to mine.

The pragmatism that defines Midwest culture near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan extends to how physicians approach NDE research. These aren't philosophers debating consciousness in abstract terms; they're clinicians trying to understand a phenomenon that affects their patients' recovery, their psychological well-being, and their relationship with the healthcare system. The Midwest doesn't ask, 'What is consciousness?' It asks, 'How do I help this patient?'

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Did You Know?

The human eye blinks about 4.2 million times per year, spreading tears to keep the cornea lubricated.

Dr. Scott Kolbaba

About Dr. Scott Kolbaba

Internist at Northwestern Medicine. Mayo Clinic trained. Interviewed 200+ physicians for this Amazon bestseller.

"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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Did You Know?

The oldest known medical school is the Schola Medica Salernitana in Italy, which operated from the 9th to the 13th century.

Watch the Stories

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About the Book

Several readers have reported that the book changed their fear of death into curiosity and peace.

Seoul: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge

Korean supernatural tradition is rich and deeply influential on modern pop culture. Gwisin (ghosts) in Korean folklore are most commonly female spirits in white—often women who died with han (a deep, unresolved grievance)—and their stories have fueled Korea's internationally acclaimed horror film industry. The concept of han is central to understanding Korean ghost stories: it is a uniquely Korean emotion combining grief, resentment, and longing that ties spirits to the mortal world. Shamanism (musok) remains surprisingly prevalent in modern Seoul, with mudang (shamans) performing gut rituals to communicate with spirits, placate the dead, and heal the living. Seodaemun Prison, where Japanese colonial authorities tortured Korean patriots, is considered one of Korea's most spiritually charged locations. The annual tradition of Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) includes elaborate ancestor veneration rituals called charye.

Seoul's medical transformation is one of the most dramatic in modern history. In 1885, when American missionary physician Horace N. Allen founded the Gwanghyewon (now Severance Hospital), Korea had no modern medical infrastructure. Within a century, South Korea built one of the world's most advanced healthcare systems. Korean traditional medicine (hanbang), based on herbal remedies, acupuncture, and moxibustion, continues to be practiced alongside Western medicine and is covered by the national health insurance system. Seoul is now a global hub for medical tourism, particularly for plastic surgery, with the Gangnam district alone housing over 500 clinics. South Korea's rapid development of testing and contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic drew worldwide admiration.

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About the Book

The book addresses the professional stigma that prevents physicians from discussing spiritual experiences in the workplace.

Notable Locations in Seoul

Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital: This abandoned mental hospital in Gwangju, near Seoul, was named one of the 'freakiest places on the planet' by CNN Travel, with visitors reporting ghostly patients, slamming doors, and a pervasive sense of dread throughout the decaying building.

Yeongdeok Haunted House (Yeongdeungpo): Several abandoned buildings in Seoul's older neighborhoods are reputed to be haunted, with Korean ghost stories (gwisin) featuring prominently—the most common being female ghosts in white hanbok (traditional dress) with long black hair.

Seodaemun Prison: This colonial-era prison, built by the Japanese in 1908 and used to imprison and torture Korean independence fighters, is now a museum where visitors report hearing screams, seeing apparitions, and feeling intense emotional distress in the torture chambers.

Severance Hospital (Yonsei University): Founded in 1885 by American missionary Horace N. Allen as Korea's first Western-style hospital (Gwanghyewon), Severance is one of South Korea's most prestigious medical institutions and played a pivotal role in introducing modern medicine to Korea.

Samsung Medical Center: Opened in 1994, Samsung Medical Center is one of South Korea's largest and most technologically advanced hospitals, a leader in cancer treatment, organ transplantation, and robotic surgery.

Reader Ratings Distribution

Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings

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Research Finding

Physicians have the highest suicide rate of any profession — roughly 300-400 physician suicides per year in the U.S.

How This Book Can Help You

Emergency medical technicians near Foxborough, Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan—the first responders who arrive at cardiac arrests in farmhouses, on roadsides, and in grain elevators—will find their own experiences reflected in this book. The EMT who performed CPR in a snowdrift and felt something leave the patient's body, the paramedic who heard a flatlined patient whisper 'not yet'—these stories are the Midwest's own, and this book tells them with the respect they deserve.

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

Pets in hospitals have been shown to reduce anxiety scores by 37% and reduce pain perception in pediatric patients.

Physicians' Untold Stories book cover

Read the Stories That Changed Everything

Over 200 physicians interviewed. 26 stories that will challenge what you believe about life, death, and everything in between.

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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