After twin newborn girls were found dead in the pit of an outhouse at Allison Lake Provincial Park October 9, 1994, Princeton RCMP launched a homicide investigation that continues today. "The autopsy determined they were alive when they were born," says Constable Ray Kinloch.

"They probably died as a result of being thrown down the hole there and just left."

In contrast to the authorities' response to the Allison Lake infanticides, neither Vancouver police nor the B.C. Ministry of the Attorney General has pursued a criminal investigation into the case of Ximena Renaerts, who was left to die after being born prematurely 12 years ago.

Unlike the Allison Lake twins, Ximena was born in a hospital. And, despite being abandoned by medical staff for more than half an hour, she survived.

Nevertheless, both cases appear to involve attempts to kill newborn children; one was successful, the other was not. Aside from B.C. Liberal MLA Geoff Plant and the province's pro-life community, however, no one is clamouring for police to probe the events surrounding the birth of Ximena, whose maltreatment resulted in a major lawsuit that was settled out of court in Vancouver two weeks ago.

However, the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons confirmed last week that it is launching a preliminary investigation into the matter. The silence of civil rights groups and the mainstream media-usually so outspoken in the defence of the defenceless-is noteworthy given that Canadian law says a child enjoys full rights and legal personhood the moment it is completely born.

Pro-choice advocates have worked for decades to draw this line, arguing successfully in numerous court cases that an abortion right up to the moment before birth is not murder.

"It strikes me that pro-abortionists want to have it both ways in a case like this," says Dr. Will Johnston, secretary-treasurer of Canadian Physicians for Life. "They say that we have to listen to the modern common law when it comes to when human life begins, but even when a child is alive, they have reservations about the humanity of the child. It makes you question their commitment."

As revealed in court documents, Ximena was born December 17, 1985. Her mother, Nadine Bourne, then 22, had attempted to have an abortion four days earlier at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bellingham, Washington. By the time she arrived at VGH's emergency ward on the evening of December 16, she was feverish and had a rapid pulse. The emergency room physician contacted the gynecology resident, Dr. Kamal Jaroudi, who concluded Ms. Bourne was suffering complications from an incomplete abortion. To the surprise of everyone, Ximena was born alive at 3:20 a.m., 11 to 14 weeks premature, but apparently healthy. Dr. Jaroudi was not in attendance.

Babies born 18 weeks premature have been known to survive if given intensive care, but instead of tending to Ximena, nurses placed her in a small plastic bucket, called a "hat," and deposited her in a room where fetal remains are kept, with the apparent intention of letting her die.

Indeed, pretrial testimony from one witness alleged that, sometime after Ximena was born, Dr. Jaroudi instructed nurses not to resuscitate her. Other witnesses testified that Ximena was "moving, gasping, [and] crying weakly" when she was abandoned by the VGH staff. A nurse checked her 26 minutes later and found the newborn was still gasping and whimpering. Nursing supervisor Joyce Hatherall was then called. She arrived at 4 a.m. and saw that Ximena was uncovered and still in the bucket.

Nurse Hatherall called for a resuscitation team, which came within three minutes. They wrapped the baby in a blanket, but placed her on a stainless steel counter, which her lawyers alleged contributed to her suffering hypothermia. Dr. Jaroudi then telephoned his supervisor, Dr. Gerald Korn, who instructed Dr. Jaroudi to call the Infant Transport Team at B.C. Children's Hospital to take the baby there. Dr. Jaroudi did not specify which hospital he was calling from, however, and it was not until 4:40 a.m. that the team arrived.

Bert and Margaret Renaerts, who live in the Fraser Valley, eventually adopted Ximena, who is confined to a wheelchair, suffers from cerebral palsy and has the mental capacity of a three-year-old-a condition they blame on the VGH staff's disregard for Ximena's welfare. (She can, however, crawl and talk.) Caring for their adopted daughter is expensive, so the Renaerts retained lawyers Thomas Berger of Vancouver and Charles Lugosi of Prince George to sue the VGH, several nurses and doctors, and Ximena's natural parents. The adoptive parents argued that the VGH defendants failed to properly examine Ms. Bourne, and then, after the birth, failed to keep Ximena warm or provide oxygen to her. A jury trial was set to begin June 1, but after a several pretrial hearings (which led, among other matters, to Dr. Jaroudi being the only doctor still named as a defendant), the VGH agreed May 29 to an out-of-court settlement. Terms of the agreement, which has yet to be approved by the Public Trustee, were not made public, but similar cases have resulted in multimillion- dollar awards. In fact, one expert estimated it would cost $10 million to care for Ximena over her lifetime.

Mr. Lugosi says only that the legal team and the Renaerts are "very pleased with the settlement" and that " Ximena will be extremely well looked after for the rest of her life."

Left unsettled, however, is the matter of criminal wrongdoing. The evidence indicates that prosecutors might have grounds to file at least one of several charges. Section 218 of the Criminal Code, for example, makes it an offence, punishable by up to two years in jail, for anyone who abandons or exposes a child under 10, "so that its life is or is likely to be endangered or its health is or is likely to be permanently injured." Section 219 of the code is more serious yet. It states that someone is criminally negligent if "in omitting to do anything that is his duty to do, shows wanton or reckless disregard for lives or safety of other persons." Section 221 states further that, "Every one who by criminal negligence causes bodily harm to another person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years."

The most serious charge would be attempted murder. Section 223 of the code, which deals with homicide, states that a child becomes human when, as had Ximena, "it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother." An attempted murder conviction under Section 239 carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

Vancouver right-to-life activist Betty Green urges police to move quickly to investigate. "Obviously, for 40 minutes, the child was denied the care she was due," Mrs. Green says. What also bears investigating is whether the VGH has been the scene of other similar incidents which ended in the death of the baby. "It would be fascinating to know from hospital records how many other ex-fetuses were still alive when they went into that room," she says. Mrs. Green adds that doctors and nurses at hospitals that perform abortions are so steeped in the "abortion mentality" that they have been known to refer to babies who survive abortions as "fetuses ex- utero"-a phrase that denies the reality of a newborn's life outside the womb.

Lawyer Paul Formby of Vancouver, who has defended anti-abortion protesters, agrees that police should inquire into the Ximena case with an eye to laying criminal charges. He charges, however, that the Ministry of the Attorney General, "is obviously looking the other way. Their heads are buried in the sand. They don't want to know what's going on." At the root of the problem, says the lawyer, is the "legal fiction" that allows the killing of a baby right up until the moment of birth, but supposedly protects the child the moment after. This fiction dulls medical and legal minds to the reality that the baby is alive both before and after birth, he says. But as long as the fiction exists, "You're going to have these aberrations taking place."

Telephone calls about the case to the Vancouver Police Department were not returned. Acting on a request from B.C. Report, Dr. Morris Van Andel, deputy registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, searched the college's files but found no record of an investigation into the affair; however, he says the college will now "be making some preliminary inquires" about the incident with the VGH. Dr. Van Andel says Dr. Jaroudi, a student from the Middle East, was a senior resident at the time of the incident, but left the college's register in 1988. The college has no record of his current residence. In fact, Dr. Jaroudi has been practising at a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for several years.

"Unfortunately, your name is included, but I very much doubt if you will hear any more about it," Dr. Korn wrote. "Certainly, I will not give anybody an indication that I know of your whereabouts."

After learning about the case from B.C. Report last week, Liberal justice critic Plant wrote Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh urging him to examine the actions of VGH staff 12 years ago (see story, page 34). "I think at the very least he should be looking into it," says Mr. Plant, a lawyer. " This is a matter that urgently requires his attention." Contacted later in the week, however, Mr. Dosanjh bounced the responsibility for taking action back to Mr. Plant. "I think obviously the critic is in as good a position as I am to forward that information to police," he said. "Any evidence of any criminality is properly presented to the police by those who know about it. Obviously, Mr. Plant has written the letter to me and he should forward it to the police or the crimnal justice branch."