Plаintiff in propria persona filed a negligence action against his employer, Walt Disney Productions, and one Don Hall for aggravating a disability arising out of an injury compensable under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Principally on the ground that the superior court has no jurisdiction over the cause the lower court sustained a demurrer to the third amended complaint. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment entered against him on the order; Walt Disney Productions is the sole respondent.
*538 The complaint alleges that on July 22, 1958, plaintiff was injured while working for Walt Disney Productions, and that Don Hall, an employee, “negligently sent plaintiff to a physician who was not qualified to treat plaintiff” (Par. Ill) ; that Hall knew or should have known that said physician was unable to treat plaintiff (Par. IV) • that the doctor examined plaintiff, had X-rays taken of his left knee and informed him that the X-ray revealed nothing (Par. V); that on September 29, 1958, plaintiff had a second set of X-rays taken which revealed a fracture and several bone fragments (Par. VI) ; and that he suffered injury as a proximate result thereof (Par. VII).
A demurrer on the ground the complaint failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action was sustained. Plaintiff amended in the form of Paragraph VIII: ‘ ‘ The right diagnosis of injury sustained while an employee for Disney Studio July 22, 1958, when given attention by first aid man, warranted sending plaintiff to hospital and given [sic] proper medical attention immediately. The symptoms consisted of extreme swelling and painful walking and falling on a dislocated knee joint to the hard ground was involved to extend proper medical treatment again warranted hospitalization.”
Demurrer sustained, plaintiff amended a second time alleging : “The negligence involved in not giving proper medical attention and hospitalization for injury to plaintiff’s knee sustained while working for Disney Studio July 22, 1958, at Janss Ranch resulted in permanent disability to the left leg” (Par. IX).
A third demurrer sustained, plaintiff again amended by alleging in Paragraph X that defendants, though insured by the State Compensation Insurance Fund, are not exempt from giving proper medical attention to injuries sustained by employees while on the job; that “a crushed and shattered knee joint caused by falling after a dislocation of knee while running caused by left heel getting caught in hole or crack in ground, along with injury to right knee and injury to lumbar-sacral [sic] disc, warranted morе than knee bandage”; that his injuries still prevail and “gross negligence due to lack of proper medical attention on defendant’s part with regard to plaintiff warrants a cause of action in the Superior Court.” A demurrer, general and special for ambiguity, uncertainty and unintelligibility, was interposed and sustained without leave to amend.
Appellant’s principal argument is that an employee’s rem *539 edy for the aggravation of an industrial injury is not within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Industrial Accident Commission where the employer “undertakes likе a physician to examine, diagnose, treat, and care for the industrial injury and does so negligently” (A.O.B. p. 8).
The pleading and its successive amendments, brief and factually incomplete, we analyze to constitute primarily a suit against plaintiff’s insured employer for the negligence of its employee Hall in sending plaintiff, who injured his knee on the job, for treatment to an unqualified doctor who negligently diagnosed the injury and failed to give him the proper medical treatmеnt and hospitalization; however, appellant now relies mainly upon his asserted right to sue his employer where it “undertakes like a physician to examine, diagnose, treat and care for an industrial injury and does so negligently,” predicating his claim on Paragraph VIII of the second amended complaint alleging that the “right diagnosis” of his injury “when given attention by first aid man” warranted immediate hospitalization and proper medical care. Thus, plaintiff seeks to hоld his insured employer in an independent suit on two theories—for its negligence in sending him to an unqualified doctor who, by his negligent diagnosis and treatment aggravated the injury; and for its negligence, through a first-aid man, for failing to rightly diagnose plaintiff’s injury in the process of securing medical aid for him. Although appellant extensively argues the latter in support of his cause and appears to concede that his first position is not warranted, because of the nature of his pleading we propose to discuss both theories of the case, neither of which we find to be sound.
It is not disputed that plaintiff’s knee was injured in the course of his employment with Walt Disney Productions; on its face the pleading reveals that the employer was insured by the State Compensation Insurance Fund; and it is conceded that the commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the original industrial injury (Lab. Code, § 3601 [1958]) ;
Scott
v.
Industrial Acc. Com.,
The Workmen’s Compensation Act provides an exclusive and complete system of compensation for injuries to employees arising out of and in the course of their employ
*540
ment
(Fitzpatrick
v.
Fidelity & Casualty Co.,
For the purpose of further discussion and review of decisional authorities, we shall treat the term “employer” and “carrier” interchangeably.
(Fitzpatrick
v.
Fidelity & Casualty Co.,
Inasmuch as insurance coverage of the employer and plaintiff’s industrial injury, appear on the face of the pleading, it is clear that the superior court is without jurisdiction in the matter
(Scott
v.
Industrial Acc. Com.,
It is the duty of an employer under the act to provide an injured employee with that medical, surgical and hospital treatment which is reasonably required to cure or relieve from the effects of the injury (Lab. Code, § 4600) and to take the initiative in furnishing the same.
(Larson
v.
Holbrook,
2 I.A.C. 130.) But there is nothing in the act or the authorities to warrant an action in a court of law against an employer for the latter’s negligence in providing
*541
that medical treatment. On the contrary, the act makes the employer liable for expenses incurred by the employee for treatment if the former neglects or refuses seasonably to provide the same (§4600), and places exclusive power of enforcement of the obligation in the commission (§ 5304;
Noe
v.
Travelers Ins. Co.,
So, too, if suit in a court of law could be maintained against an insured employer for its negligence and providing medical treatment, extensive litigation would undoubtedly result from a variety of sources-—the employee’s dissatisfaction with the doctor chosen, with the diagnosis and treatment given, or with the care or skill the doctor used; or the em *542 ployer’s failure to immediately act in оbtaining medical aid, or his choice of a doctor for the injury involved, or the manner in which he obtained medical aid, including the facilities, comfort and attention with which he provided the employee pending the arrival of the doctor. Thus for whatever aggravated or increased disability arises out of negligence on the part of the employer in this connection the remedy is exclusively before the commission; were it otherwise, an employer only at great risk to himself could discharge his duty to take the necessary steps to furnish the medical treatment he is required to furnish under the act.
The same principle rejects an independent action against an employer for a doctor’s negligence. “Where recovery is sought by an employee
against Ms employer or the employer’s insurance carrier
for a new or aggravated injury resulting from the negligence of a physician in treating an industrial injury, the Industrial Accident Commission has exclusive jurisdiction to determine the сlaim.
(Fitzpatrick
v.
Fidelity & Casualty Co. of N. Y.,
Thus, if plaintiff seeks recovery against the employer either for its negligence in sending him to an unqualified doctor for treatment or for the negligence of the doctor in diagnosing and treating his injury, his remedy is solely before the commission. Of course this does not prevent an independent suit at law against the doctor involved for malpractice
(Smith
v.
Golden State Hospital,
Coming now to his main contention that where an employer “undertakes like a physician to examine, diagnose, treat and care for the industrial injury and does so negligently, ’ ’ he may be sued in the superior court under the rule of
Duprey
v.
Shane,
The purpose of the act, to furnish a complete system of workmen’s compensation
(Fitzpatrick
v.
Fidelity & Casualty Co.,
Having asserted in his complaint that the employer was insured and that his injury occurred in the course of his employment, plaintiff has clearly brought his claim within the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act for which he must seek relief before the Industrial Accident Commission; and in the absence of further pleaded facts which would negative the application of the act
(Singleton
v.
Bonnesen,
*545
It is not so pleaded, but аssuming that the “first aid man” was an agent or employee of Walt Disney Productions, had a legal duty toward plaintiff and either did or failed to do some act in that connection, the facts alleged still do not constitute respondent employer a “third party” against whom an independent action would lie. The primary defect in the pleading arises out of the absence therein of any allegation that Walt Disney Productions, through its first-aid man, endeavored to act, or acted toward plaintiff in a capacity separate and apart from that of his employer or outside of the employer-employee relationship giving it the status of a “person other than the employer” under section 3852, Labor Code.
(Duprey
v.
Shane,
Appellant concedes the factual distinction between his and the Duprey case,
supra,
Subsequent attempts to transform an employer or carrier into a “third person” under
Duprey
v.
Shane,
Appеllant seeks further opportunity to amend on the ground that the Workmen’s Compensation Act should be liberally construed and “liberal amendment privileges should be granted to a layman who is acting in propria persona” (A.O.B. pp. 26-27). The liberal construction appellant urges relates to that “in favor of jurisdiction in the Commission” not in the court, and “it would be egregious error to permit the instant action wherein all conditions for compensation concur to be prosecuted in the superior court.”
(Moise
v.
Owens,
As to whether appellant could amend his pleading to state a cause of action within the court’s jurisdiction, it is apparent from his brief in which, we must assume, he presents his facts in their most favorable light, that whatever recovery he might have, is one before the Industrial Accident Commission. They present no circumstances under which an amendment would serve any useful purpose.
Four times plaintiff attempted to plead his cause in the superior court, before each amendment he was granted
*548
30 days, and points and authorities filed with each demurrer pointed up the main objection, yet at no time did plaintiff overcome the deficiencies in his plеading; the trial court could reasonably conclude that he was unable to do so for want of facts rather than from lack of skill in stating them, and accordingly, it did not abuse its discretion in sustaining the demurrer to the third amended complaint without leave to amend.
(Ruinello
v.
Murray,
Por the foregoing reasons the judgment is affirmed.
Wood, P. J., and Pourt, J., concurred.
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied March 22, 1961.
