The Georgia Court of Appeals, in reversing a trial judge on one point, has revived a professional negligence case over the death of a patient the day after treatment.

Jerline Miller died on August 29, 2019, the day after her scheduled procedure to have a spacer inserted into her spine to relieve back pain. She actually never had the procedure because she stopped breathing while lying face down on the examination table after being given a sedative to calm her. She was revived and taken to a hospital, where she died the next day from “acute respiratory failure due to cardiorespiratory arrest,” according to the opinion written by Senior Judge Herbert Phipps and released Friday.