Barbara Coombs Lee

Barbara Coombs Lee, PA, FNP, JD

Barbara Coombs Lee is President of Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding and protecting the rights of the terminally ill. She practiced as a nurse and physician assistant for 25 years before beginning a career in law and health policy. Since then she has devoted her professional life to individual choice and empowerment in healthcare. As a private attorney, as counsel to an Oregon State Senate committee, as a managed-care executive and finally as Chief Petitioner for Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, she has championed initiatives that enable individuals to consider a full range of choices and be full participants in their healthcare decisions.

Ms. Coombs Lee is the editor of Compassion in Dying: Stories of Dignity and Choice which presents the cases of terminally ill patients seeking death on their own terms under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. She has been interviewed by many of the nation’s leading media outlets, including Bloomberg News, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, NPR’s All Things Considered, NBC News, CNN’s Crossfire, CBS’ 60 Minutes, PBS’ The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, The Today Show, On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying and The Dr. Oz Show.

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