
200+ Physicians Share What They Witnessed Near Deer Run, Green Bay
In Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin, as in every community, families entrust their most vulnerable moments to physicians — the birth of a child, the diagnosis that changes everything, the final hours of a life well lived. What families may not know is that during those final hours, physicians themselves sometimes witness phenomena that reshape their understanding of existence. Physicians' Untold Stories captures these moments with the precision and humility they deserve. Dr. Scott Kolbaba has gathered accounts that range from the quietly moving to the breathtakingly strange, all united by their source: credible medical professionals who had nothing to gain and everything to lose by sharing what they saw. For Deer Run, Green Bay readers, this book is an invitation to consider that love might be stronger than death.

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 →Physicians' Untold Stories — an Amazon bestseller with a 4.5-star rating from over 1,000 readers.
Medical Fact
The concept of informed consent — explaining risks before a procedure — was not legally established until the mid-20th century.
Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Deer Run, Green Bay
Physicians practicing in Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin 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 Deer Run, Green Bay 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 Deer Run, Green Bay 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
A human can survive without food for about 3 weeks, but only about 3 days without water.
Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Deer Run, Green Bay
Pediatric cardiologists near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin encounter childhood NDEs with increasing frequency as survival rates for congenital heart defects improve. These children's accounts—simple, unadorned, and free of religious or cultural overlay—provide some of the most compelling NDE data in the literature. A five-year-old who describes meeting a grandmother she never knew, and correctly identifies her from a photograph, presents a research challenge that deserves more than dismissal.
Transplant centers near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin have accumulated a small but growing collection of cases where organ recipients report experiences or memories that seem to originate from the donor. A heart transplant recipient who suddenly craves food the donor loved, knows the donor's name without being told, or experiences the donor's final moments in a dream—these cases intersect with NDE research at the boundary between individual consciousness and something shared.
Medical Fact
The first stethoscope was a rolled-up piece of paper — Laennec later refined it into a wooden tube.
Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Deer Run, Green Bay
The Midwest's tradition of barn raisings—communities gathering to build what no individual could construct alone—finds its medical equivalent near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin in the fundraising dinners, charity auctions, and GoFundMe campaigns that pay for neighbors' medical bills. The Midwest doesn't wait for insurance to cover everything. It passes the hat, fills the plate, and does what needs to be done.
Midwest physicians near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin who practice in the same community for their entire career develop a population-level understanding of health that no database can match. They see the patterns: the factory that causes respiratory disease, the intersection that produces trauma, the family that carries depression through generations. This pattern recognition, built over decades, makes the community physician a public health instrument of irreplaceable value.
Did You Know?
A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that physicians who experience burnout are twice as likely to make medical errors.
Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Evangelical Christian physicians near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin navigate a daily tension between their faith's call to witness and their profession's requirement of neutrality. The physician who silently prays for a patient before entering the room is practicing a form of faith-medicine integration that respects both callings. The patient never knows about the prayer, but the physician believes it matters—and the extra moment of centered attention undeniably improves the encounter.
Native American spiritual practices near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin are increasingly accommodated in Midwest hospitals, where smudging ceremonies, drumming, and the presence of traditional healers are now permitted in some facilities. This accommodation reflects not just cultural competency but a recognition that the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk nations' healing traditions—practiced on this land for millennia before any hospital was built—deserve a place in the healing process.
Reader Ratings Distribution
Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings
Did You Know?
The placebo effect has been shown to work even when patients know they are receiving a placebo — a phenomenon called "open-label placebo."
Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories
Did You Know?
The phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" originated in Wales in 1866 as a Pembrokeshire proverb.
Medical Heritage in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's medical legacy is distinguished by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, established in 1907. UW Health at the American Family Children's Hospital has become a nationally ranked pediatric center. The university's research contributions include Dr. Harry Steenbock's development of the process for fortifying food with Vitamin D through ultraviolet radiation in the 1920s, which virtually eliminated rickets in American children—Steenbock donated his patent to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), creating one of the first university technology transfer programs. Dr. James Thomson's team at UW-Madison derived the first human embryonic stem cells in 1998, a breakthrough that transformed regenerative medicine.
The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, originally established in 1893, has become a major academic medical center partnered with Froedtert Hospital and Children's Wisconsin. Marshfield Clinic Health System, founded in 1916 in Marshfield by six physicians, grew into one of the largest private group medical practices in the United States and pioneered the Marshfield Epidemiologic Study Area (MESA), a comprehensive population-based research program. The Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, operating since 1860, was one of Wisconsin's first psychiatric hospitals and has been involved in both progressive treatment approaches and controversial forensic psychiatry cases.
About the Book
Many readers describe the book as the first time they felt validated for their own unexplained experiences in healthcare settings.
Supernatural Folklore and Ghost Traditions in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's supernatural folklore is rich with tales from its European immigrant communities and its wooded northern landscape. The Beast of Bray Road, first reported near Elkhorn in 1989 by a series of witnesses including a woman named Doristine Gipson, is described as a large, wolf-like creature that stands upright—reports have continued for decades and have been investigated by journalist Linda Godfrey, who documented the sightings in several books. The creature is sometimes connected to the Ojibwe legend of the wendigo, a malevolent spirit of the north woods.
The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, opened in 1893, is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the Midwest. Charles Pfister, the hotel's founder, reportedly haunts the grand staircase and mezzanine level—MLB players from visiting teams have frequently refused to stay at the Pfister, with players including Ryan Braun and C.C. Sabathia describing encounters with Pfister's ghost. In the Northwoods, the Paulding Light near Watersmeet (technically in Michigan but part of the broader Wisconsin-Michigan border folklore) and the haunted Summerwind Mansion on the shores of West Bay Lake in Land O' Lakes have drawn paranormal investigators for decades. Summerwind, built in 1916, was abandoned after multiple owners reported terrifying encounters with apparitions.
About the Book
The book's foreword emphasizes the courage it took for physicians to share stories that could have jeopardized their reputations.
Haunted Hospitals and Medical Landmarks in Wisconsin
Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex: The complex, which replaced the old Milwaukee County Asylum for the Chronic Insane, has a history dating to the 19th century. The older portions of the facility are associated with reports of ghostly figures in patient gowns walking through walls, unexplained moaning in empty corridors, and equipment that activates without explanation. The facility's history of patient deaths and overcrowding contributes to its reputation.
Mendota Mental Health Institute (Madison): Operating since 1860, the Mendota Mental Health Institute has treated psychiatric patients for over 160 years. The older buildings on the 72-acre campus are associated with paranormal reports including the apparition of a patient in a straitjacket seen in the corridors of the original building, doors that open and close on their own, and cold spots in the former hydrotherapy rooms. The facility's cemetery, holding patients buried under numbered stones, is said to be a particularly active location.
Types of Phenomena in the Book
Distribution across 26 physician accounts
Research Finding
Listening to nature sounds reduces sympathetic nervous system activation by 15% compared to silence.
How This Book Can Help You
Wisconsin, where the University of Wisconsin's stem cell breakthrough redefined the boundaries of life and where Marshfield Clinic physicians serve isolated northern communities with deep personal connections to their patients, provides fertile ground for the kind of extraordinary clinical encounters Dr. Kolbaba documents in Physicians' Untold Stories. The state's rural practitioners—who deliver babies, treat chronic illness, and attend deaths within the same families for generations—experience the intimate doctoring that Dr. Kolbaba, trained at Mayo Clinic and practicing at Northwestern Medicine just across the Illinois border, describes as the setting where the most profound and unexplainable medical phenomena occur.
Libraries near Deer Run, Green Bay, Wisconsin—those anchor institutions of Midwest intellectual life—have placed this book where it belongs: in the intersection of medicine, spirituality, and human experience. It circulates heavily, is frequently requested, and generates more patron discussions than any other title in the collection. The Midwest library recognizes a community need when it sees one, and this book meets it.

Research Finding
A study published in Circulation found that laughter improves endothelial function, which is protective against atherosclerosis.
Free Interactive Wellness Tools
Explore our physician-designed assessment tools — free, private, and educational.
Other Neighborhoods in Green Bay
Nearby Cities
Explore Other Countries
Related Reading
Frequently Asked Questions

Discover the Stories Medicine Never Says Out Loud
Physicians' Untold Stories by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD — 4.5 stars from 1018 readers.
Order on Amazon →This page contains approximately 1,533 words of unique content.