The University of Toronto Law School invited him to speak at their Symposium to mark the 20th Anniversary of R. vs.
He was assigned the case of a young woman who had died of a septic abortion after using a folk remedy slippery elm bark.
An autopsy showed multiple abscesses throughout her body, in her abdomen, liver, lungs, and brain.
[2] Romalis again encountered the results of illegal abortions in 1962, during his internship at Cook County Hospital in Illinois, when he spent a month on the septic obstetrics ward.
Each morning, the interns prepared 40 to 60 litres of intravenous fluid containing tetracycline, oxytocin and ergometrine for incoming patients.
David Boyes, a founder of BC’s Pap test program, told Romalis that the numbers were straightforward and "it suggests that politicians, with a few strokes of a pen, have saved more lives than we have with twenty-five years of effort screening for cervical cancer.
He added, "by performing a five-minute operation, in comfort and dignity, I can give her back her life.
In the aftermath of this first assassination attempt, Romalis almost died several times from blood loss and multiple other complications.
He could no longer do his favourite part of the job, delivering babies, nor perform major gynecological surgery.
[2] In July, 2000, Romalis was stabbed by an unknown assailant, which caused him to take some time off to recover and add security measures to his routine.
Mark Schonfeld, president of the British Columbia Medical Association, expressed shock that someone would be shot, because it is "so foreign to our way of life and our thinking."
[1] In December, 1997, several Canadian police forces formed a joint task force to manage their investigation into sniper attacks against three Canadian doctors, Romalis of Vancouver; Hugh Short of Ancaster, Ontario; and Jack Fainman of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Kopp is currently in prison in the United States, for the 1998 sniper-style murder of Barnett Slepian, an American physician from Amherst, New York who performed abortions.
Several witnesses had seen the attacker waiting for some time before Romalis arrived and even used a restroom in a pharmacy that opens onto the lobby.
News reports stated that about an hour before the stabbing, police were called to another clinic, Everywoman's Health Centre, because of aggressive anti-abortion protesters, on the lawn of the house next door.
[8] Romalis was a speaker at the public 70th birthday party for Henry Morgentaler in Toronto, which was held in a small theatre on Yonge Street.