Voss

In Zeeb v. Workmen’s Comp. App. Bd. (1967) 67 Cal.2d 496, 502 [ 62 Cal.Rptr. 753 , 432 P.2d 361 ], we held that once an employee has properly procured his own medical treatment and established a doctor-patient relationship with a doctor of his own choice “treatment should continue with the same doctor in the absence of a change of condition or evidence that the treatment is defective or additional treatment is necessary.” In the instant case we are called upon to determine whether respondent Workmen’s Compensation Appeals Board (Board) acted in excess of its jurisdiction in authorizing the employer’s compensation insurance carrier to resume control of the medical treatment of the employee on the basis of a change in the employee’s condition.

On November 6, 1969, petitioner Mercedes Voss, while employed as a clerk-cashier for Castle & Cook, doing business as Ames Mercantile and U.S.E., sustained an industrial injury to her back. The next day, she commenced medical treatment with Dr. Donald Trauner, who was furnished by Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, the employer’s work *586 men’s compensation insurance carrier. When petitioner became dissatisfied with the…