Maureen Giacomazza is a Clinical Nurse Consultant with the Pediatric Palliative Care Program at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. She has 30 years of experience caring for children facing life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses in Intensive Care Units both in the United States and England. During that time she developed a keen appreciation for the challenging decisions that parents face as they struggle to balance the benefits and burdens of care while hoping for a good quality of life for their child. This work led to her passionate interests in both bioethics and promoting palliative care services for children and families.
Along with her colleague Dr. Linda Strodtman, Maureen has co-produced two palliative care films. "Evan Mayday's Good Death" highlights the personal and professional struggles that health providers face in attending to patients and families at end of life. This year, her second film "Difficult Decisions in Pediatric Care: Just Because We Can, Should We?" was released. The film highlights the difficult shift in goals of care from cure to comfort. Maureen has conducted research assessing family satisfaction with end of life care in critical care units, and is involved in developing an exciting end of life training program for health professionals.
Maureen is adjunct faculty at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. She is a frequent lecturer in ethics and palliative care for undergraduate and graduate students, is a member of the Pediatric Ethics Committee at Mott Children's Hospital, and has served on both community and state ethics forums.