A Pioneer for Death With Dignity

Barbara Coombs Lee is the president of Compassion and Choices, the leading nonprofit organization committed to helping everyone have the best death possible.  In a March 18^th, NT Times 2015 essay, she writes about Frank Roberts, “A Pioneer for Death With Dignity:”

More than two decades before Brittany Maynard’s public advocacy for death with dignity inspired lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and at least 16 states to introduce legislation authorizing the medical practice of aid in dying for the terminally ill, Senator Frank Roberts of Oregon sponsored one of the nation’s first death-with-dignity bills.

Had he lived longer, Frank might have been able to benefit from Oregon’s becoming a state that allowed death with dignity. But he died too soon.

 

photo from the Times article