
True Stories From the Hospitals of Deer Run, Edinburgh
Dr. Scott Kolbaba practiced medicine for decades in the Chicago suburbs, building a reputation as a careful, evidence-based internist. Yet the cases that moved him most deeply — the ones that inspired "Physicians' Untold Stories" — were those that evidence alone could not explain. His book resonates with physicians and patients in Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland because it validates an experience many share but few discuss: the encounter with healing that transcends medical logic. From terminal cancer patients who achieved complete remission to accident victims who recovered function their injuries should have permanently destroyed, these stories insist that the full picture of human health includes dimensions that science has only begun to explore.

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.

Physicians' Untold Stories
by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD • 4.5 stars (1018 reviews)
Miraculous experiences doctors are hesitant to share with their patients, or ANYONE!
Order on Amazon →"I shivered. I cried. I read some out loud to the spouse. Please write more." — Amazon Review
Medical Fact
The human body can detect a single photon of light under ideal conditions, according to research published in Nature Communications.
Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Deer Run, Edinburgh
Physicians practicing in Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland 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 Deer Run, Edinburgh 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 Deer Run, Edinburgh 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)
Medical Fact
The word "diagnosis" comes from the Greek "diagignoskein," meaning "to distinguish" or "to discern."
Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland
Great Lakes maritime ghosts have a peculiar relationship with Midwest hospitals near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland. Sailors pulled from freezing Lake Superior or Lake Michigan were often beyond saving by the time they reached shore hospitals. These drowned men are said to return during November storms—the month the lakes claim the most ships—arriving at emergency departments with water dripping from coats, seeking treatment for hypothermia that set in a century ago.
The Midwest's meatpacking industry created hospitals near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland that treated injuries of industrial-scale brutality: amputations, lacerations, and chemical burns that occurred daily in the slaughterhouses. The ghosts of these workers—immigrant laborers from a dozen nations—are said to appear in hospital corridors with injuries that glow red against their translucent forms, a grisly reminder of the human cost of the nation's food supply.
Medical Fact
The pulmonary vein is the only vein in the body that carries oxygenated blood.
Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Deer Run, Edinburgh
The Mayo brothers—William and Charles—built their practice on the principle that the patient's experience is the primary source of medical knowledge. Physicians near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland who follow this principle don't dismiss NDE reports as noise; they treat them as clinical data. When a farmer from southwestern Minnesota describes leaving his body during a heart attack, the Mayo tradition demands that the physician listen with the same attention they'd give to a lab result.
Hospice programs in Midwest communities near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland have begun systematically recording end-of-life experiences that parallel NDEs: deathbed visions of deceased relatives, descriptions of approaching light, expressions of profound peace in the final hours. These pre-death experiences, long dismissed as the hallucinations of a failing brain, are now being studied as potential evidence that the NDE phenomenon occurs along a continuum that begins before clinical death.
Did You Know?
The average hospital in the United States employs over 1,200 staff members and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Deer Run, Edinburgh
Midwest winters near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland impose a seasonal isolation that has historically accelerated the development of self-care traditions. Farm families who couldn't reach a doctor for months developed their own medical competence—setting bones, stitching wounds, managing fevers with willow bark and prayer. This tradition of medical self-reliance persists in the Midwest and influences how patients interact with the healthcare system.
Midwest medical students near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland who choose family medicine over higher-paying specialties do so with full awareness of the financial sacrifice. They're choosing to be the physician who delivers babies, manages diabetes, splints fractures, and counsels grieving widows—all in the same afternoon. This choice, driven by a commitment to comprehensive care, is the foundation of Midwest healing.
Physician Burnout by Specialty
Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)
Did You Know?
The Caduceus — the winged staff with two snakes — is often mistakenly used as a medical symbol; the correct symbol is the Rod of Asclepius with one snake.
Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories
Did You Know?
The term "pandemic" comes from the Greek "pandemos," meaning "pertaining to all people."
Edinburgh: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge
Edinburgh is widely considered the most haunted city in the world. Its Old Town, built on volcanic rock with layers of streets built atop one another, creates a uniquely atmospheric setting for ghost stories. The Edinburgh Vaults, underground chambers sealed for centuries, are among the most investigated paranormal sites globally. Greyfriars Kirkyard's MacKenzie Poltergeist is considered one of the best-documented cases of poltergeist activity in modern times, with hundreds of reported attacks on visitors. Mary King's Close, a 17th-century street buried beneath the Royal Mile when plague victims were allegedly sealed inside, draws thousands of visitors seeking paranormal encounters. Edinburgh's ghost tours are a major tourist industry, and the city hosts an annual ghost festival. The castle itself is reportedly one of the most haunted buildings in Scotland, with phantom drummers, headless musicians, and spectral prisoners reported over centuries.
Edinburgh is one of the most important cities in the history of medicine. The University of Edinburgh's Medical School, founded in 1726, became the English-speaking world's preeminent center of medical education in the 18th and 19th centuries. Joseph Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery at the Royal Infirmary in the 1860s, transforming surgical practice worldwide. James Young Simpson introduced chloroform anesthesia at Edinburgh in 1847. The city's medical legacy includes the infamous Burke and Hare murders of 1828, in which bodies were sold to the anatomy school for dissection, leading to the Anatomy Act of 1832. Edinburgh is also where Arthur Conan Doyle studied medicine and based Sherlock Holmes on his professor, the diagnostician Dr. Joseph Bell.
About the Book
The book has been discussed in medical ethics courses as an example of physicians' inner lives beyond clinical practice.
Notable Locations in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Vaults (South Bridge Vaults): These underground chambers beneath Edinburgh's South Bridge, built in 1788 and used as workshops, taverns, and eventually slum housing, are considered among the most haunted places in the world, with paranormal investigators reporting shadow figures, stone-throwing poltergeists, and the ghost of a child called 'Jack.'
Greyfriars Kirkyard: This 16th-century cemetery is home to the 'MacKenzie Poltergeist,' associated with the tomb of 'Bloody' George MacKenzie, who persecuted Covenanters in the 1680s; visitors have reported scratches, bruises, and being knocked unconscious near his mausoleum.
Mary King's Close: This buried 17th-century street beneath the Royal Mile, sealed off during plague outbreaks, is said to be haunted by plague victims, with visitors reporting the ghost of a little girl named 'Annie' and overwhelming feelings of sadness.
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary: Founded in 1729, the Royal Infirmary is one of Scotland's oldest and most important hospitals, where Joseph Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery in the 1860s and James Young Simpson first used chloroform as an anesthetic in obstetrics.
Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids): Founded in 1860, Edinburgh's Sick Kids was one of the first children's hospitals in the English-speaking world and has been a leader in pediatric medicine and surgery for over 160 years.
About the Book
Dr. Kolbaba is a board-certified internist who has maintained an active clinical practice throughout his writing career.
How This Book Can Help You
The Midwest's newspapers near Deer Run, Edinburgh, Scotland—those stalwart recorders of community life—would do well to review this book not as a curiosity but as a medical development. The experiences described in these pages are occurring in local hospitals, being reported by local physicians, and affecting local patients. This isn't national news from distant coasts; it's the Midwest's own story, told by one of its own.

Reader Ratings Distribution
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Research Finding
Reading narrative-based accounts of patient experiences has been shown to improve physician empathy scores by 15-20%.
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Physicians' Untold Stories by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD — 4.5 stars from 1018 readers.
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