Kilburn

Judy and Duane Kilburn appeal the dismissal of their action against Anselmo Pineda, M.D., contending the superior court erred in finding the statute of limitations had run.

On November 21,1975, the Kilburns sued Pineda, alleging medical malpractice. The superior court found the one-year statute of limitations of Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5 began to run on the action no later than May 12, 1974, the date Judy terminated her doctor-patient relationship with Pineda. Based on this finding, the suit was dismissed.

Pineda treated Judy for her injured back from April 12, 1973, until May 12, 1974. During that time, he operated on Judy three times in an attempt to alleviate her back pain. The operations were much more painful than Pineda had told Judy they would be and produced no positive results. After the second operation, Judy asked Pineda why the operations had been ineffective and he said he should have performed a fusion operation on her back. By May 12, 1974, the condition of Judy’s back had deteriorated to the point she could not walk or stand. When her calls to Pineda on that day met with what she considered insufficient response (she says' he told her to…