When Doctors Near Bend, Pittsburgh Witness the Impossible

In Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the story of Barbara Cummiskey's recovery from multiple sclerosis has become a touchstone for anyone who believes that healing can transcend medical explanation. Bedridden, on a ventilator, with documented brain lesions visible on MRI, Cummiskey rose from her bed and walked — her neurological damage simply gone. Dr. Scott Kolbaba includes this case and many others like it in "Physicians' Untold Stories," not to promote any particular belief system but to honestly reckon with what physicians have witnessed. For readers in Bend, Pittsburgh, Cummiskey's story is a reminder that even in an age of advanced diagnostics and precision medicine, the human body retains the capacity to astonish the very professionals trained to understand it.

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.

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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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Meant to awe, instruct, and inspire — stories that will convince even the harshest skeptic. — From the introduction to Physicians' Untold Stories

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Medical Fact

Bibliotherapy — prescribing books for mental health — has been shown to be as effective as face-to-face therapy for mild depression.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Bend, Pittsburgh

Physicians practicing in Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 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 Bend, Pittsburgh 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 Bend, Pittsburgh 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

A single session of moderate exercise improves executive function and working memory for up to 2 hours afterward.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Bend, Pittsburgh

Transplant teams at Northeast medical centers near Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania occasionally encounter a phenomenon that NDE research may help explain: organ recipients who report memories, preferences, or personality changes that seem to originate from the donor. While cellular memory remains speculative, the consistency of these reports across unrelated patients and transplant centers suggests something worth investigating.

Dr. Sam Parnia's AWARE study at NYU Langone placed visual targets on high shelves in resuscitation bays—images only visible from the ceiling. The implications for medical practice in Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are profound: if even one verified case of a patient accurately reporting these targets during cardiac arrest holds up, the relationship between brain function and consciousness must be fundamentally reconsidered.

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Medical Fact

A daily 10-minute walk outdoors provides mental health benefits comparable to 45 minutes of indoor exercise.

Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Bend, Pittsburgh

The Northeast's medical conferences near Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bring together physicians who, for a few days, step outside the relentless pace of clinical practice to remember why they chose medicine. The best conferences aren't about the latest drug or device—they're about the case that changed a physician's perspective, the patient who taught a lesson no textbook contained, the moment when medicine became something sacred.

The history of East Coast medicine is a history of firsts: the first medical school, the first hospital, the first vaccination campaign. Physicians in Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania inherit this legacy of innovation, but also its burden. The pressure to advance, to publish, to break new ground can obscure the fundamental act of healing—which is, at its core, one human being paying careful attention to another.

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Did You Know?

Hospitals are among the most haunted buildings in folklore worldwide — and the physician testimonies in this book suggest there may be a reason.

Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The tradition of visiting the sick—bikur cholim in Judaism, the corporal works of mercy in Catholicism—creates a volunteer infrastructure near Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that supplements professional medical care. Faith communities that organize meal deliveries, transportation to appointments, and companionship for homebound patients provide a social determinant of health that no hospital can replicate.

The intersection of old-world faith and modern medicine is nowhere more visible than in Northeast hospitals near Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Catholic nuns established many of the region's first charitable care institutions. These religious women were the original nurse practitioners, combining spiritual comfort with physical care in a model that modern integrative medicine is only now rediscovering.

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Did You Know?

The white coat ceremony, now held at nearly every U.S. medical school, was first introduced at Columbia University in 1993.

Pittsburgh: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge

Pittsburgh's ghost lore is deeply connected to its industrial past. The abandoned steel mills and furnaces that once powered America's industrial revolution—sites where workers died in horrific industrial accidents—are considered haunted monuments to the city's blue-collar heritage. Carrie Furnace, a preserved blast furnace site, is a popular destination for ghost tours and paranormal investigations. The Congelier House on Ridge Avenue was once called 'the most haunted house in America' after a series of alleged murders and supernatural events in the 1800s; it was destroyed in a mysterious gas explosion in 1927 that killed several people. The city's hilly terrain and numerous tunnels—both railroad and mining—add to its atmospheric quality, with multiple reported haunted tunnels throughout the region. The nearby Gettysburg battlefield, site of the Civil War's bloodiest engagement, casts a long supernatural shadow over western Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh holds a singular place in medical history as the city where two of the 20th century's most transformative medical breakthroughs occurred. In 1955, Dr. Jonas Salk, working at the University of Pittsburgh, announced the successful development of the polio vaccine—a breakthrough that would eradicate one of the most feared diseases of the era and save millions of lives worldwide. In 1967, Dr. Thomas Starzl performed the world's first successful liver transplant at what is now UPMC Presbyterian, establishing Pittsburgh as the global leader in organ transplantation. The UPMC system has since grown into one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States, with pioneering programs in every organ transplant category. Pittsburgh's transformation from a steel city to a medical and technology hub represents one of the most dramatic urban reinventions in American history.

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Did You Know?

Dr. Kolbaba found that physicians who acknowledged the limits of medical science were often the most respected by their patients.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

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About the Book

Dr. Kolbaba has described the physicians he interviewed as "the bravest people I know" for sharing their stories.

Notable Locations in Pittsburgh

Carrie Furnace: This massive abandoned blast furnace from the Carnegie steel empire era is considered haunted by the ghosts of steelworkers killed in industrial accidents, with visitors reporting apparitions and the sounds of machinery in the silent ruins.

Congelier House site: Known historically as 'the most haunted house in America,' this former mansion on Ridge Avenue was the site of alleged murders and a massacre in the 1800s before being destroyed in a gas explosion in 1927.

Gettysburg battlefield (nearby): While in southern Pennsylvania, the Civil War's bloodiest battle (1863) with over 50,000 casualties has made the Gettysburg area one of the most haunted regions in America, frequently visited by Pittsburgh-area paranormal enthusiasts.

UPMC Presbyterian Hospital: The flagship of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system, it is where Dr. Thomas Starzl performed the world's first successful liver transplant in 1967, establishing Pittsburgh as the global capital of organ transplantation.

Allegheny General Hospital: Founded in 1886, this major teaching hospital was the site where Dr. Jonas Salk developed and tested the polio vaccine in the early 1950s, one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the 20th century.

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About the Book

Dr. Kolbaba's speaking engagements often include Q&A sessions where audience members share their own unexplained experiences.

Medical Heritage in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American medicine. The University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 by Dr. John Morgan and Dr. William Shippen Jr., is the oldest medical school in the United States. Pennsylvania Hospital, founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, was the nation's first hospital. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania pioneered the first general-purpose electronic computer (ENIAC) in partnership with the School of Engineering, and its medical innovations include the development of the first general anesthesia using diethyl ether by Dr. Crawford Long's contemporaries and the first cadaveric organ transplant program.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine gained worldwide fame when Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine there in 1955. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, founded in 1825, has been a leader in surgery and rehabilitation medicine. Hershey Medical Center, established in 1963 with a donation from the Milton Hershey School Trust, brought academic medicine to central Pennsylvania. The state also bears the history of the Eastern State Penitentiary, which pioneered solitary confinement in 1829 and caused such severe psychiatric deterioration among inmates that Charles Dickens described it as "rigid, strict, and hopeless" after his 1842 visit.

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Research Finding

Hope — the belief that things can get better — has been shown to activate the brain's reward circuitry and reduce pain perception.

Supernatural Folklore and Ghost Traditions in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's supernatural traditions are among the oldest and most diverse in America. The Hex Hollow murder of 1928 in York County shocked the nation: Nelson Rehmeyer was killed by three men who believed he had placed a hex (powwow curse) on one of their families—the case exposed the deep roots of Pennsylvania Dutch folk magic, or Braucherei, that persist in rural communities to this day. Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, opened in 1829 and closed in 1970, is routinely cited as one of the most haunted places in the world. Cell Block 12 is notorious for apparitions, shadow figures, and cackling laughter; Al Capone, imprisoned there in 1929, reportedly claimed to be tormented by the ghost of James Clark, one of the victims of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The Gettysburg battlefield is considered the most haunted location in America, with 165,000 soldiers having fought and over 7,000 killed across three days in July 1863. Ghost sightings include phantom soldiers marching in formation, the smell of gunpowder on still nights, and the sounds of cannon fire and screaming. Sachs Covered Bridge near Gettysburg, used by both armies during the battle, is associated with the apparitions of three Confederate soldiers reportedly hanged from its beams for desertion.

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Research Finding

Deep breathing exercises have been shown to lower blood pressure by 10-15 mmHg in hypertensive patients within minutes.

Haunted Hospitals and Medical Landmarks in Pennsylvania

Gettysburg Hospital (Gettysburg): During the Battle of Gettysburg, virtually every building in town was converted into a field hospital. The modern Gettysburg Hospital, built on land soaked with Civil War blood, has been the subject of ghost reports since its construction. Staff have described seeing soldiers in Union and Confederate uniforms walking the halls, IV machines turning on by themselves, and the faint odor of chloroform and gunpowder in certain areas of the facility.

Pennhurst State School and Hospital (Spring City): Pennhurst operated from 1908 to 1987 as an institution for people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Investigative reporter Bill Baldini's 1968 NBC10 exposé 'Suffer the Little Children' revealed horrific conditions, leading to the landmark Halderman v. Pennhurst case. The abandoned campus is considered extremely haunted, with visitors reporting children's cries, shadowy figures in doorways, and wheelchairs that appear to move on their own in the decaying wards.

What makes these accounts remarkable is not just the events themselves, but the credibility of the evidence-based physicians who reported them.

Physicians' Untold Stories

How This Book Can Help You

Pennsylvania, where American medicine was born at the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Hospital, is the historical foundation upon which the extraordinary experiences described in Dr. Kolbaba's Physicians' Untold Stories rest. The state that gave the world the first medical school, the first hospital, and the polio vaccine has also produced generations of physicians who have witnessed phenomena that their training cannot explain—from the Civil War surgeons at Gettysburg to modern-day doctors at Penn Medicine and UPMC. Dr. Kolbaba's Mayo Clinic training and Northwestern Medicine practice follow directly in this tradition of American medicine pioneered in Philadelphia.

Community organizations near Bend, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that host author events and speaker series will find this book sparks conversation across professional and personal boundaries. When a physician stands before an audience and says, 'I can't explain what I saw, but I saw it,' the room divides not along political or religious lines but along the more fundamental question of what we're willing to consider possible.

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

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Dr. Kolbaba, a Mayo Clinic-trained internist, spent three years interviewing physicians who came forward with experiences they had never told anyone.

Physicians' Untold Stories

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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