ORDER :

S.K. Kakade, Member—This is a case of alleged medical negligence. The complainant No. 1, Mrs. Shashikala Orpe is wife of the complainant No. 2 who is qualified Doctor, Dr. Shrikant Orpe; Pathologist by profession. Dr. Kamran Khan is the opposite party No. 1 and the main opposite party; while opposite party Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are other doctors working with opposite party No. 10, S.L. Raheja Hospital and Trust; while opposite party Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are the administrators and trustees of the opposite party No. 10 hospital. The complainant No. 1 suffered from Cancer of Right breast for which she underwent right modified radical mastectomy operation. For giving chemotherapy thereafter, it was decided to implant chemotherapy port, the surgeon, OP No. 1 performed the operation. During placement of the port there was injury to right sided subclavian vein. Without informing the husband and complainant No. 2, the surgeon performed major operation, right sided thoracotomy. Alleging that this was the deficiency in service and medical negligence, the complainants have filed complaint in this State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission under Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and claimed compensation of Rs. 25 lakh only along with 18% rate of interest per annum from the date of filing of complaint till realization towards the mental and physical torture and agony. The brief facts of this case are as follows.

2. The complainants Mrs. Chandrakala Srikanth Orpe and Dr. Srikanth Orpe are the residents of Matunga, Mumbai. Complainant No. 1, Mrs. Chandrakala suffered from cancer of right breast, was treated by modified radical mastectomy (MRM) in S.L. Raheja Hospital by the cancer surgeon Dr. Phanase on 16th June, 2008. As part of further treatment the patient, complainant received chemotherapy, three sessions, on 5th July, 26th July and 16th August, 2008. For further remaining two chemotherapy sessions, it was decided to insert chemotherapy port. Thus for the said minor operation, complainant No. 1 got admitted in S.L. Raheja Hospital on 11th September, 2008. OP No. 1, Dr. Kamran Khan conducted this surgery in operation theatre for which opposite Party No. 2, Dr. S. Upadhyay was the anaesthesiologist. Complainant No. 2, Dr. Shrikant was clueless for 3 hours and 15 minutes about the happenings in the operation theatre, as no information was passed on to him once his wife was taken in operation theatre for the Port insertion surgery. It was informed to him after the operation was over that during the operation of chemotherapy port insertion, there was injury to right subclavian vein that was repaired immediately by the same surgeon. As this further operation was emergency and lifesaving, the surgeon informed complainant No. 2 that it was not possible to inform and seek consent for the same. Further the patient was shifted to ICU. The complainants also alleged that in the post-operative period, the management and the behaviour of the hospital staff was not good and the patient was shifted to paediatric ward (children’s ward). Other grievances during post-operative period were that resident doctor changed the diet of the patient from solid to liquid, blood bags handed over to the complainant No. 2 by biochemist technician instead of blood bank technician, and complainants had to pay heavy hospital bill for hospital stay of 6 days instead of one day. The complainant No. 1 submitted that the chemotherapy port inserted got infected later on and had to be removed. Since in the post retirement life that started on 1st November, 2009 for complainant No. 1, she could not undertake further assignment due to the uninformed surgery performed by OP No. 1, there was loss to her and aggrieved by that, the complainants filed complaint with this State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

3. The opposite parties, numbering 10, opposed th