Barbara Coombs Lee

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Barbara Coombs Lee (born 1947) is an American activist and author who has spent her life fighting for end-of-life rights. She is the president emerita and senior adviser of Compassion & Choices, a national nonprofit that works to expand and protect the rights of people who are terminally ill.

Her work began in Oregon in 1991 on a state Senate healthcare and bioethics committee. After reading a church bulletin about a Death with Dignity bill, she volunteered to help and joined the Oregon Right to Die Political Action Committee. She was selected to be a chief petitioner and helped file the Oregon Death with Dignity Act as a citizen initiative in 1994. She served as spokesperson for two statewide campaigns and spent ten years defending the law in court and in the legislature.

Governor Barbara Roberts, wife of Senator Roberts, became a close friend and strong advocate for the cause. Since 1996, when she became president of Compassion in Dying (which later became Compassion & Choices in 2005), the end-of-life choice movement has won many milestones. In 2008 she advised the Washington State Death with Dignity ballot measure, which voters approved by a large margin. In 2009 the Montana Supreme Court Baxter v. Montana ruled that it is not against public policy for a physician to provide aid in dying to a mentally competent, terminally ill adult.

By January 2019, eight jurisdictions had legalized aid in dying: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii. That same year she published Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life’s End, a 294-page memoir and guide to help people take control of their end-of-life decisions.

Coombs Lee has appeared on many major media outlets and spoken at numerous conferences and events, including TEDx. Her education includes studying literature at Vassar College, nursing at The New York Hospital–Cornell School of Nursing, advanced medical training through the University of Washington School of Public Health Medex Program (Physician Assistant), and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School. She is an inactive member of the Oregon State Bar.