The State - News from July 16, 1989

An Air Force sergeant has filed a $1-million claim against the Air Force, claiming that she was wrongfully sterilized in 1985 during a routine checkup at an Arizona base hospital. Sgt. Holly Nolan, 29, also alleges that the Air Force attempted to cover up the operation after she learned this year that it had been performed. Robert Thompson, her attorney, said that Nolan, a supply clerk at March Air Force Base in Riverside County, can file a federal suit as a civilian under the U.S. Tort Claims Act if the Air Force denies the claim. Nolan was admitted to the base hospital for a diagnostic procedure to determine the extent of endometriosis. According to the claim, however, Nolan received a tubal ligation. “At no time did anybody talk to her about a tubal ligation,” Thompson said. A base spokesman declined to comment.