Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh has adopted what is known as a "proactive" approach to law enforcement. Rather than react to crises, the crusading Mr. Dosanjh targets areas of high interest and then launches politically charged initiatives. In the first week of June the subject was "hate crime," an area in which the attorney general would like to see Ottawa adopt B.C.'s sweeping and rights-limiting definitions. The next issue was organized crime; Mr. Dosanjh appointed an independent team June 9 to review the province's enforcement efforts in the area. Barely receiving his attention, however, was a life-and-death subject that many British Columbians say should be at the top of his agenda.

At issue is the alleged mal-treatment of Ximena Renaerts by medical staff at Vancouver General Hospital 12 years ago. Ximena was born alive after an attempted abortion, but was abandoned for half an hour, even though she was gasping for air. As a result, she was left severely handicapped. Ximena's adoptive parents reached an out-of-court settlement three weeks ago on a massive malpractice suit against VGH.

Terms are secret, but it is estimated the hospital and-or its insurer will have to pay the Renaerts several million dollars. After publicity about the case, several pro-life advocates urged authorities to launch a criminal investigation. They said at, at the least, medical staff appeared to be guilty of child abandonment; at the worst, attempted murder. Liberal justice critic Geoff Plant wrote a letter to Mr. Dosanjh, urging the criminal justice branch to investigate.

Mr. Dosanjh's original response was to suggest that it was Mr. Plant's responsibility to pursue the case, not the government's. "I think obviously the critic is in as good a position as I am to forward that information to police," he told B.C. Report June 4. Interviewed by the Vancouver Sun June 8, however, Mr. Dosanjh changed his tune; he said he would pass Mr. Plant's letter to the criminal justice branch, which would decide whether to direct it to police.

It took took one day for the branch to make its decision. On June 9 Ernie Quantz, assistant deputy attorney general, forwarded Mr. Plants letter to Vancouver police Chief Bruce Chambers. "I do not have any information beyond that provided in Mr. Plant's letter," Mr. Quantz wrote "but am referring this issue to you for your consideration.and decision as to whether a criminal investigation is warranted."

The issue is a crucial one for pro-lifers and defenders of the disabled. They contend that pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia practices in hospitals represent a slippery slope towards outright murder. People who are dying, unwanted or disabled should not be considered second-class citizens, says Robin Loxton, a community advocate with the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities. "We have the right to what everyone else has a right to," says Mr. Loxton who, as does Ximena, has cerebral palsy. Loxton points out that medical technology now exists to save many lives, including the lives of those born prematurely. "There is the opportunity to save people's lives, even if they may be disabled," he says. "Why not? It's an issue that goes beyond the disability community. It affects everybody ... not only at the beginning of their lives, but at the end."

Among those forced to deal with such life-and-death issues are pro-abortionists. They have fought successfully in the courts to deny "personhood" to unborn children; it follows, then, that they would vigorously defend the personhood of newborn babies, such as Ximena. But Joyce Arthur, spokesman for the B.C. Coalition of Abortion Clinics, seemed unconcerned about the Ximena case last week. "I'm not convinced a criminal investigation is the way to go," Ms. Arthur said. "This is really a medical [malpractice] matter. There wasn't any criminal intent." She added, "Generally, our position is that every effort should be made to save [a] child's life, of course." But "whether failure to do so should be considered a criminal act, I'm not sure of that ... I don't see any real purpose being served."

The purpose, says Betty Green, president of Vancouver Right to Life, is that a criminal prosecution would send a clear message to hospital staff that they should not treat unwanted new-borns as less than human. But it is no surprise that Ms. Arthur would be so non-chalant about the Ximena case, says Mrs. Green, because pro-abortionists are so tied to the belief that a living fetus has no rights inside the womb, "It takes a great leap in logic for them to try and transfer over and accept that this child, who escaped from being destroyed, could possibly be a human being. Then maybe they would have to admit to themselves that the child who was attacked in the womb was a human being."

How many other children have died in similar circumstances is unknown. Pre-trial evidence showed that VGH did not investigate the Ximena case and had no policy in place to deal with the birth of abortion survivors. "I think there has to be a breach of duty of the hospital administration, where these kind of things happened , but nobody is accountable," says Mrs. Green. "How can we trust a hospital where people can die and nobody ever knows?" The B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons has begun an inquiry in the Ximena case, but had made no progress on its investigation by the end of last week.