Scherer

Plaintiff appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of defendant Dr. Howard Mark. The motion for summary judgment was based on the action being barred by the statute of limitations (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.5).

Plaintiff allegedly was injured on or about October 23, 1971, while a patient at defendant Memorial Hospital of Southern California (Hospital). On June 14, 1972, she filed a complaint for personal injuries against Hospital and “Does I through XXX, inclusive.” It was alleged that “each of the Defendants designated herein as a Doe is in some manner responsible for the events and happenings hereinafter alleged.” The complaint further alleged that defendants “negligently and carelessly treated Plaintiff in that they failed to follow a standard of care in common practice ... in the care and treatment of Plaintiff’s condition” including watching over her while she was taking a bath and providing plaintiff with a safe place to take a bath, knowing that she was handicapped and under medication; that as a result she fell and was injured.

On December 5, 1973, an amendment was made to insert the name of Howard Mark, M.D., in the complaint for the fictitiously named Doe…