A wrongful death case against a surgeon can proceed on behalf of an aborted fetus, a state appeals panel ruled on Tuesday.The mother of the fetus, Monique Thomas, underwent elective surgery in March 2016 after telling her doctors she was “potentially pregnant.” After the surgery, the pregnancy was confirmed, but the surgical drugs resulted in a nonviable fetus.Thomas and the fetus’s father, Christopher Mitchell, opted to abort the pregnancy. Then they brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctors …