Trial moves into day five

A civil trial alleging medical malpractice moves into day five today in the Oconee Common Pleas Court. For the defense, more doctors yesterday testified in favor of Dr. Frank Rao, saying the Oconee surgeon, in their review of the medical records, rendered proper care and made correct decisions in treating a 26-year old woman who later died. One of yesterday’s witnesses, Dr. Marion Boyd Gillespie of Charleston, would have been one of the specialists who would have later treated Cassie Sweenor had not her condition worsened during a post-surgery medical flight bound for the Medical University of South Carolina. That flight was diverted to Columbia where Sweenor spent three weeks in a hospital before dying in a hospice home.