A composite RF current attenuator for a medical lead includes a conductor having a distal electrode contactable to biological cells, a bandstop filter in series with the lead conductor for attenuating RF currents flow through the lead conductor at a selected center frequency or across a range of frequencies about the center frequency, and a lowpass filter in series with the bandstop filter and forming a portion of the lead conductor. The bandstop filter has a capacitance in parallel with a first inductance. In a preferred form, the lowpass filter includes a second inductance in series with the bandstop filter, wherein the values of capacitance and inductances for the composite RF current attenuator are selected such that it attenuates MRI-induced RF current flow in an MRI environment.