{"id":18260,"date":"2024-12-12T22:13:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T23:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18260"},"modified":"2024-12-12T23:25:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T23:25:26","slug":"dolores-madrigal-plaintiff-in-landmark-sterilization-case-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18260","title":{"rendered":"Dolores Madrigal, Plaintiff in Landmark Sterilization Case, Dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"
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She was among hundreds of women who said they were coerced into sterilization at a California hospital in the 1970s. The lawsuit led to state and national reforms.<\/p>\n

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Dolores Madrigal, the lead plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit brought by Latina women in California who said they were coerced into unwanted sterilization during childbirth at a Los Angeles hospital in the early 1970s, died on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas. She was 90.<\/p>\n

The death, at a hospice facility, was confirmed by her son Oren Madrigal.<\/p>\n

Ms. Madrigal was among several hundred Spanish-speaking women who said they were pressured into signing consent forms \u2014 written in English \u2014 agreeing to have their fallopian tubes tied during cesarean section deliveries. Ten of them filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles County-U.S.C. Medical Center in 1975.<\/p>\n

The sterilizations occurred amid political hysteria about overpopulation: In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon had established the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future<\/a>, led by John D. Rockefeller III<\/a>. The plaintiffs argued that the hospital, which received state and federal funding for family planning programs, was trying to lower the birthrate of Mexican American women \u2014 a charge hospital administrators and medical staff denied.<\/p>\n

After a bench trial in 1978, Judge Jesse W. Curtis Jr.<\/a> of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled against the plaintiffs, writing in his decision that their \u201cability to understand and speak English is limited,\u201d that the case was \u201cessentially the result of a breakdown in communications\u201d and that \u201cone can hardly blame the doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms. Madrigal\u2019s experience showed otherwise, her attorneys had argued, and ultimately led to state and national reforms, including mandatory waiting periods for the procedure, known as tubal ligation, for women in labor, and requirements that doctors provide patients with consent forms in their native language.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The coerced sterilizations brought news coverage and protests by women. Here, a 1977 poster advertises a public hearing and rally.<\/span>Rachael Romero, San Francisco Poster Brigade, 1977<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She was among hundreds of women who said they were coerced into sterilization at a California hospital in the 1970s. The lawsuit led to state and national reforms.Dolores Madrigal, the lead plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit brought by Latina women in California who said they were coerced into unwanted sterilization during childbirth at a Los Angeles hospital in the early 1970s, died on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas. She was 90.The death, at a hospice facility, was confirmed by her son Oren Madrigal.Ms. Madrigal was among several hundred Spanish-speaking women who said they were pressured into signing consent forms \u2014 written in English \u2014 agreeing to have their fallopian tubes tied during cesarean section deliveries. Ten of them filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles County-U.S.C. Medical Center in 1975.The sterilizations occurred amid political hysteria about overpopulation: In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon had established the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future, led by John D. Rockefeller III. The plaintiffs argued that the hospital, which received state and federal funding for family planning programs, was trying to lower the birthrate of Mexican American women \u2014 a charge hospital administrators and medical staff denied.After a bench trial in 1978, Judge Jesse W. Curtis Jr. of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled against the plaintiffs, writing in his decision that their \u201cability to understand and speak English is limited,\u201d that the case was \u201cessentially the result of a breakdown in communications\u201d and that \u201cone can hardly blame the doctors.\u201dMs. Madrigal\u2019s experience showed otherwise, her attorneys had argued, and ultimately led to state and national reforms, including mandatory waiting periods for the procedure, known as tubal ligation, for women in labor, and requirements that doctors provide patients with consent forms in their native language.The coerced sterilizations brought news coverage and protests by women. Here, a 1977 poster advertises a public hearing and rally.Rachael Romero, San Francisco Poster Brigade, 1977We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18262,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18260"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18263,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18260\/revisions\/18263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}