
Real Physicians. Real Stories. Real Miracles Near Highland, Biddeford
The modern hospice movement, pioneered by Dame Cicely Saunders and championed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, was founded on the principle that dying is a natural process that deserves reverence rather than medical combat. Physicians' Untold Stories extends this principle for readers in Highland, Biddeford, Maine, by documenting what happens when dying is allowed to unfold naturally: patients experience visions, communications, and moments of peace that suggest the process includes dimensions beyond the physical. For readers in Highland, Biddeford who are navigating end-of-life decisions, the book provides a medical perspective that aligns with the hospice philosophy—death as transition, not defeat.

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
A full bladder is roughly the size of a softball and can hold about 16 ounces of urine.
Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Highland, Biddeford
Physicians practicing in Highland, Biddeford, Maine 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 Highland, Biddeford 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 Highland, Biddeford 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 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 Highland, Biddeford, Maine
Northeast teaching hospitals pride themselves on evidence-based medicine, which makes the ghost stories from Highland, Biddeford, Maine all the more compelling. These aren't tales from credulous laypeople; they come from residents, attending physicians, and department chiefs who have no professional incentive to report seeing a transparent figure adjust a patient's IV line before dissolving into the wall.
The 1918 influenza pandemic hit the Northeast with particular ferocity, overwhelming hospitals near Highland, Biddeford, Maine that were already strained by World War I. The pandemic's ghosts are different from other hospital spirits—they appear in groups, not singly, as if death came so fast that the dead didn't realize they'd left the living behind. Mass hauntings for a mass casualty event.
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 Highland, Biddeford
The Northeast's pharmaceutical industry, concentrated along the I-95 corridor near Highland, Biddeford, Maine, has shown a surprising interest in NDE research—not out of spiritual curiosity, but because NDE experiencers often report permanent changes in medication response. Antidepressants work differently, pain thresholds shift, and some patients report a lasting alteration in their relationship with their own bodies.
Chaplains at Northeast hospitals near Highland, Biddeford, Maine often serve as the first point of contact for NDE experiencers, hearing accounts that patients are reluctant to share with physicians. These chaplains have noticed a pattern: the most transformative NDEs often occur in patients with no prior religious belief. The experience doesn't confirm existing faith—it creates something entirely new, something that doesn't fit any catechism.
Did You Know?
Dr. Kolbaba found that physicians who acknowledged their unexplained experiences reported greater professional satisfaction.
Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Highland, Biddeford
The Northeast's medical humanities programs near Highland, Biddeford, Maine have produced physicians who understand that the arts and medicine are not separate disciplines. A doctor who reads poetry is better equipped to hear the metaphors patients use to describe their pain. A surgeon who paints understands that the body is not merely a machine to be repaired but a canvas of lived experience.
The Northeast's medical libraries near Highland, Biddeford, Maine—from the grand reading rooms of academic centers to the modest shelves of community hospitals—contain more than information. They contain hope. Every journal article represents someone's attempt to solve a problem that causes suffering. Every textbook is a promise that knowledge, carefully applied, can push back against disease. The library is medicine's cathedral.
Physician Burnout by Specialty
Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)
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
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 Maine
Maine's medical history reflects the challenges of providing care in a rural, geographically isolated state. The Maine Medical Center in Portland, founded in 1874, grew into the state's largest hospital and a Level I trauma center serving the northern New England region. Bowdoin College's Medical School of Maine, which operated from 1820 to 1921, trained physicians for the state's rural communities; its most famous graduate was Dr. Isaac Lincoln, who practiced frontier medicine in the state's northern lumber camps.
The Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor (now Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center) served the vast rural expanses of northern Maine. Dr. Israel T. Dana, a Civil War surgeon who later became dean of the Maine Medical School at Bowdoin, was instrumental in modernizing medical education in the state. Maine's long coastline and maritime industry produced specialized maritime medicine, with the U.S. Marine Hospital in Portland treating sailors and fishermen. Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, founded in 1929, became one of the world's foremost genetics research institutions, playing a critical role in the development of mouse models for cancer research and contributing to the Human Genome Project.
About the Book
Kirkus Reviews called the book "a feel-good book of hope and wonder."
Supernatural Folklore and Ghost Traditions in Maine
Maine's supernatural folklore draws from its harsh coastal environment, dense forests, and the literary imagination of Stephen King, who has set dozens of horror novels in fictionalized versions of Maine towns. The real Maine is equally rich in ghost lore. Seguin Island Lighthouse, built in 1795, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a lighthouse keeper's wife who went mad from isolation and was murdered by her husband with an axe—visitors report hearing piano music drifting across the water. Wood Island Lighthouse near Biddeford Pool is haunted by the ghost of a lobsterman who killed a tenant and then himself in 1896.
The town of Bucksport is home to the 'Witch's Foot' legend: Colonel Jonathan Buck, the town's founder, is said to have been cursed by a woman he sentenced to death for witchcraft—a leg-shaped stain has appeared and reappeared on his tombstone despite repeated cleanings. Fort Knox (Maine's, not Kentucky's) in Prospect is considered one of the most haunted military installations in New England, with reports of soldiers' ghosts, disembodied voices, and cold spots throughout the casemates. In the North Woods, legends of the Specter Moose—an enormous, ghostly white moose—have been reported by hunters and loggers since the 1800s.
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 Maine
Fort Popham Hospital Station (Phippsburg): The Civil War-era fort at the mouth of the Kennebec River included a hospital station for injured soldiers. The unfinished granite fort, combined with the harsh Maine coastal weather, creates an atmosphere of foreboding. Visitors report hearing the sounds of men in pain, seeing spectral soldiers walking the parapets, and encountering cold spots in the casemates that served as hospital wards.
Augusta Mental Health Institute (Augusta): Originally the Maine Insane Hospital, established in 1840, this facility treated the mentally ill for over 160 years. The Kirkbride-plan building, designed by Thomas Story Kirkbride himself, housed patients through eras of restraints, ice baths, and lobotomies. The underground tunnel system connecting the buildings is said to be the most haunted area, with former staff reporting disembodied voices, shadowy figures, and a pervasive sense of dread. A cemetery on the grounds holds hundreds of unmarked patient graves.
Types of Phenomena in the Book
Distribution across 26 physician accounts
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
Maine's medical community—where physicians at Maine Medical Center and in rural practices serve communities spread across a state nearly the size of the other five New England states combined—creates the kind of intimate, isolated practice settings where the experiences in Physicians' Untold Stories feel most genuine. The state that inspired Stephen King's fictional horrors also produces real physicians who encounter the medically inexplicable in their daily practice. Dr. Kolbaba's documentation of miraculous recoveries and deathbed phenomena resonates in Maine, where physicians often serve as the sole medical provider for remote communities, building the deep patient relationships that make witnessing the unexplainable both profound and unavoidable.
For medical students near Highland, Biddeford, Maine, this book offers something their curriculum doesn't: permission to take seriously the experiences that fall outside the biomedical model. The Northeast's medical education is superb at teaching what is known. This book addresses what isn't known—and argues that the unknown deserves the same intellectual rigor as the known.

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, MD — 4.5 stars from 1018 readers.
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