
The Miracles Doctors in Sunrise, San Diego Have Witnessed
Every recovery documented in "Physicians' Untold Stories" represents not just a medical anomaly but a human transformation. The patients who survived terminal diagnoses did not simply return to their previous lives; they were changed by the experience in profound and lasting ways. And so were their physicians. Dr. Scott Kolbaba writes movingly about the impact these cases had on the doctors who witnessed them — how the experience of watching a patient recover against all odds reshaped their understanding of their profession, their patients, and themselves. For healthcare professionals in Sunrise, San Diego, California, this book is a reminder that the practice of medicine is not only a science but a deeply human endeavor, and that the most transformative moments in a physician's career may be the ones that science cannot explain.

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 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
Medical Fact
The vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve, runs from the brain to the abdomen and influences heart rate, digestion, and mood.
Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Sunrise, San Diego
Physicians practicing in Sunrise, 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 Sunrise, 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 Sunrise, 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 pancreas produces about 1.5 liters of digestive juice per day to break down food in the small intestine.
Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Sunrise, San Diego
Pediatric NDE researchers at children's hospitals near Sunrise, San Diego, California face ethical challenges unique to this population. Children can't provide informed consent for NDE studies, parents may project their own beliefs onto children's accounts, and the developmental limitations of young children make it difficult to distinguish genuine NDE memories from confabulation. Despite these challenges, pediatric NDEs provide some of the most compelling data because children's accounts are less culturally contaminated.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy centers near Sunrise, San Diego, California—which treat decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, and wound healing—have reported NDE-like experiences in patients undergoing treatment. The elevated oxygen levels in hyperbaric chambers create conditions opposite to those typically associated with NDEs (which are usually linked to hypoxia), suggesting that oxygen levels alone cannot explain the phenomenon. The West's diving and hyperbaric medicine community is adding a new variable to the equation.
Medical Fact
Your kidneys filter about 50 gallons of blood per day and produce about 1-2 quarts of urine.
Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Sunrise, San Diego
Environmental medicine—the study of how pollution, toxins, and environmental degradation affect human health—found its strongest advocates in the West near Sunrise, San Diego, California. Physicians who connect a patient's asthma to air quality, a community's cancer cluster to groundwater contamination, or a child's developmental delay to lead exposure are practicing a form of healing that addresses causes rather than symptoms.
Regenerative medicine research near Sunrise, San Diego, California—stem cell therapy, tissue engineering, bioprinting—represents the West Coast's most ambitious healing venture: the attempt to rebuild damaged organs and tissues from scratch. These technologies, still largely experimental, carry the promise of healing that previous generations could only dream of: regrown hearts, rebuilt livers, restored neural pathways.
Did You Know?
Hospital chaplains are trained to support patients and families of every faith — and no faith at all.
Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Sunrise, San Diego, California
West Coast Catholic communities near Sunrise, San Diego, California include a significant Latino population whose faith practices blend institutional Catholicism with indigenous and folk traditions. The patient who wears a scapular, carries a rosary, and also consults a curandera is practicing a syncretic faith that requires a physician comfortable with theological complexity. The West's diversity demands spiritual literacy that goes beyond any single tradition.
The West's tradition of interfaith dialogue near Sunrise, San Diego, California—facilitated by organizations like the Parliament of the World's Religions—creates a spiritual infrastructure for medical ethics discussions that draws on the collective wisdom of humanity's faith traditions. When a West Coast ethics committee includes a Zoroastrian priest, a Jain monk, and a secular humanist alongside the usual Christian and Jewish voices, the quality of moral reasoning improves for everyone.
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Did You Know?
Many of the physicians in Dr. Kolbaba's book initially refused to share their stories, fearing damage to their professional reputations.
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?
Dr. Kolbaba once grew a 1,000-pound pumpkin and won the Sycamore, Illinois pumpkin-growing contest two years running.
Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories
About the Book
Physicians' Untold Stories features 26 extraordinary accounts that were selected from hundreds of physician interviews.
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's family supports an orphanage in Romania through REMM, where they adopted two of their seven children.
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.
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Research Finding
A study of 70,000 women found that regular church attendance was associated with a 33% lower risk of death from any cause.
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
Hospital clown programs reduce pre-operative anxiety in children by 50% compared to sedative premedication alone.
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.
“Over 200 physicians interviewed. 26 of the most miraculous experiences of their careers, chronicled in one book.”
— 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 tech community near Sunrise, San Diego, California will find this book unexpectedly relevant. Silicon Valley's quest to understand consciousness—through AI, brain-computer interfaces, and digital immortality—parallels the physicians' encounters with phenomena that suggest consciousness is more than code running on biological hardware. This book is a dataset that the tech world hasn't processed yet.

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“Sometimes all we need to do is believe. — From the introduction to 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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