John Austin sued a physician and the physician’s practice after Austin’s wife died from a drug overdose, alleging that the doctor had negligently prescribed a dangerous combination of addictive medications. After the physician was indicted for related criminal conduct, the trial court stayed the entire civil action until the criminal trial ended, reasoning that the physician might have to invoke the Fifth Amendment in the civil case. The Georgia Court of Appeals held that the decision to stay a civil action pending a parallel criminal prosecution is discretionary and must balance the competing interests, but that the trial court had relied on an incorrect view of the privilege. Testifying in the civil case would not waive the physician’s ability to assert the privilege in the later criminal case, although the testimony could create other risks. Because the stay was based on that legal error, the court vacated the order and remanded for the trial court to exercise its discretion under the correct framework. The corporate defendant’s separate challenge was moot.