In the 1970s, doctors sterilized Dolores Madrigal without her knowledge. She became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit by Mexican-American women who said they were coerced into having their tubes tied.

Dolores Madrigal, right, with Gloria Molina at a news conference in 1975 announcing a class-action suit against Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center alleging they sterilized 10 Latino patients ...

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 15, 2024, Section A, Page 30 of the New York edition with the headline: Dolores Madrigal, 90, Plaintiff in a Key Suit On Sterilization, Dies .

“Dolores emerged as kind of the cheerleader for the group,” said Antonia Hernández, former head of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the California Community Foundation. She ...

Dolores Madrigal passed away Nov. 9 in Las Vegas of natural causes. She was 90. She was born in the small town of Villa Purificación, Mexico, and migrated to the United States in 1965.