Lauren's List: An Interview with Sally Sampson

When Lauren Sampson was only seven years old, she had already been hospitalized more than 50 times. With her mother, Sally, by her side, she had spent a large part of her life with health care professionals. The two watched teams of physicians barge into Lauren's hospital room and pat her stomach because they were curious about her pancreatitis. They watched nurses deliver shots and say "This won't hurt" when, in fact, it did. They watched all kinds of caregivers explain what was going to happen, but not explain who they were.

Frustrated with her care and the loss of control she experienced with each hospitalization, Lauren taped to the door of her hospital room a piece of paper that listed some requests for any caregiver who came to see her. In time, Lauren, Sally, and the hospital's child life specialist refined the original list and changed the way those health care providers interacted with their patients.

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