When Medicine Meets the Miraculous in Northwest, Bangkok

Grief is universal, but for residents of Northwest, Bangkok who have lost a loved one, the stories in Physicians' Untold Stories offer a unique form of comfort: accounts from physicians who witnessed signs that death is not the end. Visions of deceased relatives at bedsides. Unexplained moments of peace. Evidence, from the most credible witnesses in our culture, that love survives the grave.

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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Praised by Kirkus Reviews. Featured on Provocative Enlightenment Radio, The Higher Side Chats, Paranormal UK Radio, and many more.

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Medical Fact

The average physician reads about 3,000 pages of medical literature per year to stay current.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Northwest, Bangkok

Physicians practicing in Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand 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 Northwest, Bangkok 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 Northwest, Bangkok 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

Dr. Joseph Murray received the Nobel Prize in 1990 for performing the first successful organ transplant in 1954.

Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand

German immigrant faith practices near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand blended Lutheran piety with folk medicine in ways that persist in Midwest medical culture. The Braucher—a folk healer who combined prayer, herbal remedies, and sympathetic magic—was a fixture of German-American communities well into the 20th century. Modern physicians who serve these communities occasionally encounter patients who've consulted a Braucher before visiting the clinic.

The Midwest's megachurch movement near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand has produced health ministries of surprising sophistication—exercise classes, nutrition counseling, cancer support groups, mental health workshops—all delivered within a faith framework that motivates participation. When a pastor tells a congregation that caring for the body is a form of worship, gym attendance among parishioners increases more than any secular fitness campaign achieves.

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Medical Fact

The first ultrasound for medical diagnosis was performed in 1956 by Dr. Ian Donald in Glasgow, Scotland.

Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand

The loneliness of the Midwest winter, when snow isolates communities near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand for weeks at a time, produces ghost stories born of cabin fever and medical necessity. The physician who snowshoed five miles to deliver a baby in 1887 is said to still make his rounds during blizzards, visible through the curtain of falling snow as a dark figure bent against the wind, bag in hand, answering a call that never ended.

Czech and Polish immigrant communities near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand maintain ghost traditions that include the 'striga'—a spirit that feeds on vital energy. When Midwest nurses of Eastern European heritage describe patients whose vitality seems to drain inexplicably despite stable vital signs, they sometimes invoke the striga, a diagnosis that their medical training cannot provide but their cultural inheritance recognizes immediately.

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Did You Know?

Meditation has been shown to lengthen telomeres — the protective caps on chromosomes associated with aging — in a study published in Cancer.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Northwest, Bangkok

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, has been quietly investigating consciousness phenomena for decades, and its influence extends to every medical facility near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand. When a Mayo-trained physician encounters a patient's NDE report, they bring to the conversation an institutional culture that values empirical observation over ideological dismissal. The Midwest's most prestigious medical institution doesn't ignore what it can't explain.

The Midwest's land-grant universities near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand are beginning to fund NDE research through their psychology and neuroscience departments, applying the same empirical methodology they use for crop science and animal husbandry. There's something appropriately Midwestern about treating consciousness research with the same practical seriousness as soybean yield optimization: if the data is there, study it. If it's not, move on.

Near-Death Experience Features

Percentage reporting each feature (van Lommel et al., 2001)

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Did You Know?

The first recorded use of a prosthetic device — a wooden toe — dates back to ancient Egypt, around 950 BCE.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

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Did You Know?

The stethoscope has remained essentially unchanged in design for over 150 years — one of medicine's most enduring tools.

Bangkok: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge

Thailand has one of the world's richest ghost traditions, and Bangkok is its spiritual center. The story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong—a woman who died in childbirth but whose ghost continued to care for her husband—is Thailand's most beloved ghost story, and the shrine at Wat Mahabut draws thousands of devotees daily. Spirit houses (san phra phum) stand outside virtually every building in Bangkok, from skyscrapers to homes, offering shelter to displaced spirits. The Thai concept of phi (ghosts/spirits) is deeply embedded in daily life, with dozens of distinct spirit types recognized in Thai folklore. Monks are regularly called to bless new buildings, and amulets believed to offer protection from malevolent spirits are a major industry. The Siriraj Hospital forensic museum adds to Bangkok's macabre reputation, displaying preserved remains and crime scene evidence that blur the line between medical education and the supernatural.

Bangkok has evolved from a city reliant on traditional Thai medicine to a global medical tourism powerhouse. King Chulalongkorn founded Siriraj Hospital in 1888—Thailand's first modern hospital—after losing his son to dysentery. Today, Bangkok attracts over 2.4 million medical tourists annually, with hospitals like Bumrungrad International offering world-class care at competitive prices. Thai traditional medicine, recognized by the WHO, incorporates herbal remedies, massage, and spiritual healing practices that date back centuries. The Siriraj Medical Museum, known colloquially as the 'Museum of Death,' houses the mummified body of serial killer Si Ouey and preserved anatomical specimens used for medical education since the 1920s. Bangkok is also a leading center for gender-affirming surgery, with Thai surgeons considered among the world's most experienced.

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About the Book

Dr. Kolbaba describes himself as specializing in "big" — big family (7 kids), big kites, and big pumpkins.

Notable Locations in Bangkok

Sathorn Unique Tower: This 49-story abandoned skyscraper, left unfinished after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, is considered one of Bangkok's most haunted buildings, with reports of ghostly apparitions and a shrine at its base maintained to appease restless spirits.

The Baiyoke Sky Hotel: Bangkok's tallest hotel is said to be built on land once used as a cemetery, and guests have reported ghostly encounters on certain floors, particularly in the older sections of the building.

Wat Mahabut: This temple on the banks of Phra Khanong Canal is dedicated to the ghost of Mae Nak, Thailand's most famous ghost—a woman who died in childbirth but continued living with her husband, unaware she was dead—and draws thousands of visitors who come to pay respects and ask for blessings.

Siriraj Hospital: Founded in 1888 by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), Siriraj is the oldest and largest hospital in Thailand, located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, and houses the Siriraj Medical Museum, which includes a forensic medicine collection and preserved specimens.

Bumrungrad International Hospital: Founded in 1980, Bumrungrad is one of the world's largest private hospitals, treating over 1.1 million patients annually from 190 countries and making Bangkok a global leader in medical tourism.

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About the Book

Several physicians in the book describe their experience as the most significant event of their medical career.

How This Book Can Help You

The Midwest's commitment to education near Northwest, Bangkok, Central Thailand—the land-grant universities, the community colleges, the public libraries—means that this book reaches readers who approach it with genuine intellectual curiosity, not just spiritual hunger. They want to understand what these experiences are, how they work, and what they mean. The Midwest reads to learn, and this book teaches something that no other source provides: that the boundary between life and death is more interesting than we were taught.

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

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Research Finding

Standing desks reduce lower back pain by 32% and improve mood and energy levels in office workers.

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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