Real Physicians. Real Stories. Real Miracles Near Sedona, West Des Moines

Every hospital in Sedona, West Des Moines has stories the staff whisper about but never document. Night-shift nurses who hear footsteps in empty hallways. ICU physicians who watch cardiac monitors display impossible rhythms minutes after a patient has died. Chaplains who arrive at rooms before anyone calls because they felt a pull they cannot name. These are the stories that Sedona, West Des Moines's medical community keeps locked behind closed doors — until now.

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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"What an inspirational time… I was gratified by the unusually good turn-out and the comments received afterwards." — D.H., Presbyterian Minister

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Medical Fact

A full bladder is roughly the size of a softball and can hold about 16 ounces of urine.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Sedona, West Des Moines

Physicians practicing in Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa 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 Sedona, West Des Moines 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 Sedona, West Des Moines 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

The first use of rubber gloves during surgery was at Johns Hopkins in 1890, initially to protect a nurse's hands from harsh disinfectants.

Ghost Stories and the Supernatural Near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa

Farm accident ghosts—a uniquely Midwestern category—haunt rural hospitals near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa with a workmanlike persistence. These spirits of farmers killed by combines, PTOs, and grain augers appear in overalls and work boots, checking on fellow farmers who arrive in emergency departments with similar injuries. They don't try to communicate; they simply stand watch, one worker looking out for another.

The Midwest's tradition of barn medicine—veterinarians and farmers treating each other's injuries alongside livestock ailments near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa—produced a pragmatic approach to healing that persists in rural hospitals. The ghost of the farmer who set his own broken leg with fence wire and baling twine is a Midwest archetype: a spirit that embodies self-reliance so deeply that even death doesn't diminish its competence.

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Medical Fact

Taste buds have a lifespan of only about 10 days before they are replaced by new ones.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Sedona, West Des Moines

The Midwest's medical examiners near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa contribute to NDE research from an unexpected angle: autopsy findings in patients who reported NDEs before dying of unrelated causes years later. Preliminary observations suggest subtle structural differences in the brains of NDE experiencers—particularly in the temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex—that may predispose certain individuals to the experience or result from it.

Clinical psychologists near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa who specialize in NDE aftereffects describe a condition they informally call 'NDE adjustment disorder'—the struggle to reintegrate into normal life after an experience that fundamentally altered the experiencer's values, relationships, and sense of purpose. These patients aren't mentally ill; they're profoundly changed, and the therapeutic challenge is to help them build a life that accommodates their new understanding of reality.

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Did You Know?

Dr. Kolbaba found that physicians who acknowledged their unexplained experiences reported greater professional satisfaction.

Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Sedona, West Des Moines

High school sports injuries near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa create a community investment in healing that extends far beyond the patient. When the starting quarterback tears an ACL, the whole town follows his recovery—from the orthopedic surgeon's office to the physical therapy clinic to the first practice back. This communal attention isn't pressure; it's support. The Midwest heals its athletes the way it raises its barns: together.

Spring in the Midwest near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa carries a healing power that winter's survivors understand viscerally. The first warm day, the first green shoot, the first robin—these aren't metaphors for recovery. They're the recovery itself, experienced at a physiological level by people whose bodies have endured months of cold and darkness. The Midwest physician who says 'hang on until spring' is prescribing the most effective antidepressant the region produces.

Physician Burnout by Specialty

Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)

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Did You Know?

The word "physician" comes from the Greek "physis" meaning nature — a physician was originally one who understood the nature of things.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

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Did You Know?

The word "doctor" comes from the Latin "docere," meaning "to teach" — a physician was originally a teacher of health.

Medical Heritage in Iowa

Iowa's medical history is distinguished by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, the largest university-owned teaching hospital in the United States. Founded in 1898, it became a pioneer in numerous fields: Dr. Arthur Steindler developed innovations in orthopedic surgery in the early 20th century, and the hospital performed the first successful bone marrow transplant for a genetic disease (severe combined immunodeficiency) in 1968 under Dr. Robert Good. The university's College of Medicine, established in 1870, trained generations of rural physicians who served Iowa's farming communities.

The Iowa Methodist Medical Center (now UnityPoint Health) in Des Moines and Mercy Medical Center (now MercyOne) served as the capital city's major hospitals. Iowa's contributions to public health include Dr. Norman Borlaug, a University of Minnesota graduate raised on an Iowa farm, whose Green Revolution agricultural research saved an estimated billion lives from famine. The state's rural character drove innovations in telemedicine, with the University of Iowa pioneering remote consultation programs for farmers and small-town residents hundreds of miles from specialists. Iowa was also notable for its progressive mental health reforms, with the Mount Pleasant State Hospital (1861) among the earliest state-funded psychiatric facilities in the Midwest.

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About the Book

Kirkus Reviews called the book "a feel-good book of hope and wonder."

Supernatural Folklore and Ghost Traditions in Iowa

Iowa's supernatural folklore reflects its agricultural landscape and the isolation of its rural communities. The Villisca Ax Murder House in Villisca, where eight people—including six children—were bludgeoned to death in their beds on June 10, 1912, is one of the most haunted sites in the Midwest. The crime was never solved, and overnight visitors report the sound of children's voices, falling objects, and a heavy, oppressive atmosphere in the upstairs bedrooms. Paranormal investigators have captured EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) in the home.

The Stony Hollow Road near Burlington, Iowa is haunted by 'Lucinda,' a woman reportedly murdered on her wedding night in the 19th century, whose screams are said to echo through the hollow. The Edinburgh Manor near Scotch Grove, a former county poor farm and mental health facility operating from 1850 to 2010, has become one of Iowa's most investigated haunted locations, with reports of a shadowy entity known as 'The Joker' and the ghost of a patient who died in the swing set area. In Dubuque, the Hotel Julien, which dates to 1839 and hosted Al Capone, is reportedly haunted by his ghost and that of a woman who died under mysterious circumstances on the third floor.

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About the Book

Many physicians told Dr. Kolbaba that they had never shared their stories before — not even with spouses.

Haunted Hospitals and Medical Landmarks in Iowa

Old Mount Pleasant State Hospital (Mount Pleasant): One of Iowa's earliest psychiatric facilities, established in 1861, this hospital treated Civil War veterans suffering from what would now be called PTSD. The old Kirkbride building, with its distinctive center tower, is said to be haunted by patients and staff from its earliest days. Night workers have reported a man in Civil War-era clothing pacing the halls and the faint sound of a bugle call at dawn.

Edinburgh Manor (Scotch Grove): Operating as a county poor farm and mental health facility from 1850 to 2010, Edinburgh Manor housed the indigent, mentally ill, and elderly for 160 years. Over 100 people died on the property. Now open for paranormal investigations, visitors report being touched by unseen hands, hearing voices calling names, and encountering an aggressive entity nicknamed 'The Joker' in the basement. Shadow figures are frequently seen in the long corridors between the dormitory rooms.

Types of Phenomena in the Book

Distribution across 26 physician accounts

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Research Finding

A daily 15-minute laughter session has been shown to improve vascular function by 22% in patients with cardiovascular disease.

How This Book Can Help You

Iowa's medical culture, centered on the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics—the largest university-owned teaching hospital in America—is characterized by the kind of dedicated, unpretentious physicians who populate Physicians' Untold Stories. The state's rural physicians, who often serve as the sole doctor for entire communities, develop the deep patient relationships that make encountering the unexplainable particularly profound. Dr. Kolbaba's Midwestern practice sensibility mirrors that of Iowa's medical community, where physicians carry both scientific training and the practical humility that comes from serving communities where faith, family, and farming shape every aspect of life, including how people experience illness, healing, and death.

The Midwest's tradition of practical wisdom near Sedona, West Des Moines, Iowa shapes how readers receive this book. They don't approach it as philosophy or theology; they approach it as useful information. If physicians are reporting these experiences consistently, what does that mean for how I should prepare for my own death, or my spouse's, or my parents'? The Midwest reads for application, and this book delivers.

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

A study in Psychosomatic Medicine found that optimism is associated with a 35% lower risk of cardiovascular events.

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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