Dolores Madrigal

In 1973, Los Angeles factory worker Dolores Madrigal (born 1934) went to the county hospital to deliver her baby. She didn’t know until weeks later that she had been sterilized and would never have another child.
Madrigal and nine other mothers filed a lawsuit claiming that the hospital systematically sterilized Spanish-speaking women without their consent. The women overcame fear and shame—some had kept the procedure secret from their families—to come forward.
The judge ruled for the hospital, saying the case was the result of miscommunications between doctors and patients. But the case led to bilingual counseling and consent forms.