
Real Physicians. Real Stories. Real Miracles Near Sherman, San Diego
Hope is not the absence of evidence—it is the presence of meaning in the face of uncertainty. In Sherman, San Diego, California, people who have lost loved ones to illness, accident, or age often struggle to find that meaning, caught between a culture that urges them to "move on" and a heart that insists on remembering. "Physicians' Untold Stories" meets the grieving where they actually are: in the space between loss and whatever comes next. Dr. Kolbaba's true accounts of the extraordinary in medicine—deathbed visions, inexplicable recoveries, moments of peace that descended without medical explanation—do not demand belief. They simply present evidence, observed by physicians, that something beyond the measurable accompanies the dying and, perhaps, follows the dead. For Sherman, San Diego's mourners, this evidence may be the thin thread of hope they need.

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 →"What an inspirational time… I was gratified by the unusually good turn-out and the comments received afterwards." — D.H., Presbyterian Minister
Medical Fact
The average person produces enough saliva in a lifetime to fill two swimming pools.
Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Sherman, San Diego
Physicians practicing in Sherman, San Diego, California 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 Sherman, San Diego 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 Sherman, San Diego 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 first vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796 using cowpox to protect against smallpox.
Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Sherman, San Diego, California
The ancient redwood and sequoia forests near Sherman, San Diego, California have inspired ghost stories that blur the boundary between human and arboreal spirits. Hospital workers of Native California descent describe tree spirits that visit sick patients, offering the slow, patient healing that comes from organisms that live for thousands of years. These forest ghosts don't speak—they simply stand beside the bed, emanating the quiet resilience of organisms that have survived everything.
The West's earthquake preparedness culture near Sherman, San Diego, California extends into the supernatural: hospital staff report that ghostly activity increases before seismic events, as if the dead are more sensitive to tectonic stress than the living. Whether this represents a genuine precognitive phenomenon or simply reflects the general anxiety that precedes earthquakes, the correlation between ghostly activity and seismic events in Western hospitals has been observed too consistently to ignore.
Medical Fact
The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet across a room.
Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Sherman, San Diego
The West's death-with-dignity laws near Sherman, San Diego, California have created end-of-life scenarios where the timing of death is known in advance, allowing researchers to monitor patients' brain activity during the dying process with unprecedented precision. These monitored deaths provide data that cardiac-arrest NDEs cannot: a complete physiological record of the transition from life to death, with the patient's cooperation and consent.
West Coast emergency department chaplains near Sherman, San Diego, California are developing NDE-specific spiritual care protocols that neither medicalize nor mystify the experience. These protocols provide a structured response to the patient who says, 'I was dead, and I went somewhere'—validating the report, assessing for distress, offering follow-up resources, and documenting the account for research purposes. The West is building infrastructure for a phenomenon that other regions are still debating.
Did You Know?
The human body generates about 3.6 million joules of energy per day — enough to keep a 40-watt lightbulb lit for 24 hours.
Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Sherman, San Diego
Forest bathing—shinrin-yoku—came to the West Coast near Sherman, San Diego, California from Japan and found a landscape perfectly suited to its practice. The old-growth forests of Northern California, the redwood groves of the coast, and the pine forests of the Sierra provide environments whose therapeutic properties have been documented by Japanese researchers: lower cortisol, improved immune function, reduced blood pressure. The West's forests are hospitals without walls.
The West's tradition of innovation near Sherman, San Diego, California extends to how it defines healing itself. Where other regions focus on treating disease, the West focuses on optimizing health—a positive, proactive definition that encompasses not just the absence of illness but the presence of vitality, purpose, and joy. This expansive definition of healing sets a higher bar and, in the process, raises the standard of care for everyone.
Physician Burnout by Specialty
Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)
Did You Know?
The first use of chloroform as an anesthetic was by James Young Simpson in 1847 during childbirth in Edinburgh.
San Diego: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge
San Diego's Whaley House is one of only two houses in the United States officially recognized as haunted by the government (the other being the Winchester Mystery House). Built on the site where 'Yankee Jim' Robinson was publicly hanged in 1852, the house has been the subject of paranormal investigations since the 1960s, with documented reports of apparitions, phantom smells, and ghostly footsteps. The Hotel del Coronado's ghost, Kate Morgan, died under mysterious circumstances in 1892—whether by suicide or murder remains debated—and her spirit is said to haunt room 3327 (formerly room 302) and the beach. El Campo Santo Cemetery, where a road was paved over graves, is a unique haunted site where paranormal activity is associated with literal grave disturbance. San Diego's Old Town, the site of the first European settlement in California, has numerous reportedly haunted buildings, including the Cosmopolitan Hotel and the Robinson-Rose House.
San Diego's medical identity is shaped by its dual role as a major military medical hub and a growing biotech center. Naval Medical Center San Diego (Balboa) has been the Navy's premier West Coast medical facility since 1922, treating military personnel from every conflict and developing expertise in combat medicine, traumatic brain injury, and PTSD treatment. The city's biotech sector, centered on the Torrey Pines Mesa alongside the Salk Institute (founded by Jonas Salk himself in 1960) and The Scripps Research Institute, has made San Diego one of the world's most important biomedical research clusters. UC San Diego Health has emerged as a leader in precision medicine and cancer immunotherapy. The city's proximity to Mexico has also made cross-border healthcare a significant aspect of the regional medical landscape, with tens of thousands of Americans traveling to Tijuana annually for affordable medical and dental care.
Did You Know?
The word "clinic" comes from the Greek "klinikos," meaning "of or pertaining to a bed."
Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories
About the Book
The book addresses the tension between scientific materialism and the experiences physicians witness that defy materialist explanations.
Notable Locations in San Diego
Whaley House: Officially designated by the US Commerce Department as haunted, this 1857 house was built on the site of a public gallows and is considered one of the most haunted houses in America, with sightings of 'Yankee Jim' Robinson, hanged on the property in 1852.
Hotel del Coronado: This iconic 1888 Victorian beach resort is famously haunted by Kate Morgan, a young woman found dead of a gunshot wound on the hotel steps in 1892, whose ghost is reported in room 3327 and along the beach.
El Campo Santo Cemetery: This 1849 Old Town cemetery was partially paved over by a road, and drivers report car troubles, ghostly figures, and unexplained phenomena when driving over the buried graves.
UC San Diego Health (Jacobs Medical Center): A nationally ranked academic medical center that has become a leader in precision medicine, cancer immunotherapy, and genomics research through its partnership with the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Naval Medical Center San Diego (Balboa): The Navy's largest medical facility on the West Coast, treating military personnel and their families since 1922, and serving as a major center for combat casualty care and military medicine research.
About the Book
Dr. Kolbaba has described the physicians he interviewed as "the bravest people I know" for sharing their stories.
Medical Heritage in California
California has been at the forefront of American medicine since the Gold Rush era. The Toland Medical College, founded in San Francisco in 1864, became the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which pioneered fetal surgery under Dr. Michael Harrison in the 1980s and was instrumental in the early response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Stanford University School of Medicine, where Dr. Norman Shumway performed the first successful adult heart transplant in the United States in 1968, established the Bay Area as a global hub for cardiac surgery. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, founded in 1902, became renowned for treating Hollywood celebrities while maintaining cutting-edge research programs.
Southern California's medical contributions are equally significant. The City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte pioneered bone marrow transplantation under Dr. Stephen Forman. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, founded in 1960. Kaiser Permanente, founded in Oakland in 1945 by Henry J. Kaiser and Dr. Sidney Garfield, revolutionized American healthcare by creating the managed care model. Loma Linda University Medical Center, operated by Seventh-day Adventists, performed the first infant heart transplant in 1984 under Dr. Leonard Bailey and serves a community in the 'Blue Zone' of Loma Linda, where residents live exceptionally long lives.
Reader Ratings Distribution
Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings
Research Finding
Spending 120 minutes per week in nature — in any combination — is associated with significantly better health and wellbeing.
Supernatural Folklore and Ghost Traditions in California
California's supernatural folklore spans from the Spanish mission era to Hollywood's golden age. The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, built continuously from 1886 to 1922 by Sarah Winchester, heir to the Winchester rifle fortune, is one of America's most famous haunted houses—she believed the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles demanded constant construction. The Queen Mary, permanently docked in Long Beach, is a floating repository of ghost stories, with the first-class pool area and engine room being hotspots where visitors report apparitions of a drowned woman and a sailor crushed by a watertight door.
Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay is infamous for reports of cell door clanging, disembodied voices in D Block (solitary confinement), and the spectral sounds of Al Capone's banjo echoing from the shower area. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, opened in 1927, is said to be haunted by Marilyn Monroe (whose reflection appears in a full-length mirror) and Montgomery Clift (who paces the hallway of Room 928). In the desert, the ghost town of Bodie in the Eastern Sierra is said to curse anyone who removes artifacts, and rangers have received thousands of returned items with letters describing subsequent bad luck.
Research Finding
Hope — the belief that things can get better — has been shown to activate the brain's reward circuitry and reduce pain perception.
Haunted Hospitals and Medical Landmarks in California
Presidio Army Hospital (San Francisco): This military hospital in the Presidio served soldiers from the Civil War through the 1990s. Civil War-era apparitions have been reported in the old hospital ward buildings, and a ghostly woman in Victorian dress is said to appear near the pet cemetery. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, the hospital was overwhelmed with dying soldiers, and staff reported hearing moaning and coughing from wards that had been sealed off after the crisis.
Linda Vista Community Hospital (Los Angeles): Operating from 1904 to 1991 in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, Linda Vista began as a Santa Fe Railroad hospital. As the neighborhood declined, the hospital became associated with rising mortality rates and was eventually shuttered. The abandoned facility became one of LA's most investigated haunted locations, with paranormal teams documenting disembodied screams, shadow figures in the operating rooms, and a ghostly nurse seen on the third floor. It was later converted to senior housing.
“An Amazon bestseller with over 1,000 ratings and a 4.5-star average, praised by Kirkus Reviews for its compelling accounts.”
— Physicians' Untold Stories
How This Book Can Help You
California's vast and diverse medical landscape—from UCSF and Stanford to Cedars-Sinai and the Salk Institute—represents the pinnacle of evidence-based medicine, making it a fascinating counterpoint to the unexplainable experiences documented in Physicians' Untold Stories. Dr. Kolbaba's accounts of physicians confronting phenomena beyond science would resonate in a state where cutting-edge research coexists with deep spiritual traditions across dozens of cultures. The state's pioneering role in integrative medicine and its openness to exploring the boundaries between science and spirit create a physician community uniquely receptive to the kind of honest, humble accounts that define Dr. Kolbaba's work.
The West's meditation communities near Sherman, San Diego, California will recognize in these physician accounts experiences that are structurally similar to deep meditative states. The book bridges contemplative practice and clinical medicine, suggesting that the boundary between the two may be more permeable than either tradition typically acknowledges.

Reader Ratings Distribution
Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings
“Dreams foretelling future events, apparitions, and other miraculous experiences come to life within the pages of Physicians' Untold Stories.”
— Physicians' Untold Stories
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Discover the Stories Medicine Never Says Out Loud
Physicians' Untold Stories by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD — 4.5 stars from 1018 readers.
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