As a primary care physician for more than 25 years, Vermont native and Class of 1986 University of Vermont College of Medicine alumna Sally Willard Burbank, M.D., says she has seen “everything” in terms of her patient encounters. Based in Nashville, Tenn., Burbank recently published her first book – titled Patients I Will Never Forget (Clovercroft Publishing, 2014) – which features a collection of humorous and inspiring true stories from her many years of practicing internal medicine.

The author of four short stories published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Burbank’s readers’ positive feedback led her to decide to continue writing patient stories for compiling into a book. She says she obtained consent from each living patient she featured and changed all patient names and distinguishing demographics to protect patient confidentiality and to comply with federal privacy laws.

One of Burbank’s Patients I Will Never Forget stories features “Marge,” a wheelchair-bound, legally blind, dialysis patient who discovers the young woman she hired to cook and clean for her can’t cook. Instead of firing her incompetent help, shares Burbank, Marge instead methodically taught the girl how to make beef stew, chicken and dumplings, and lasagna – all from the confines of her wheelchair.

“Marge told me she would serve others until her dying breath,” Burbank says.

Another story describes a dying leukemia patient who experienced a visitation from Jesus while in a comatose state. Consistent with the patient’s prayers – to live long enough to see her daughter graduate from high school – Burbank recalls that “Sure enough, she woke up from her coma the very next day and became leukemia-free – without the use of chemotherapy or treatment – for over three years. She lived to photograph her daughter in her graduation cap and gown.”

Burbank credits the UVM College of Medicine for providing her with topnotch primary care training and adds that some of the stories in her book recount her medical student experiences, such as dissecting a cadaver, learning physical exam skills, and her first attempts at drawing blood and starting IV’s.

Through the end of 2014, Burbank is donating 20 percent of all profits from the book to a scholarship fund for medical students.

Patients I Will Never Forget is available at bookstores throughout the state, including Phoenix Books in Burlington and Essex, Vt.; Barnes & Noble in South Burlington, Vt.; The Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vt.; The Vermont Bookstore in Middlebury, Vt.; Bear Pond Books in Stowe and Montpelier, Vt.; and The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vt. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

 Burbank, who has run an internal medicine practice in Nashville, Tenn. since 1989, has been honored in the Nashville Business Journal as one of Nashville’s top internists each year for the past several years. Married with two college-age children, Burbank has studied writing for more than a decade and is co-leader of Nashville Christian Writers.