Dr Charlie Teo defends failed surgeries
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Dr. Charlie Teo defends botched surgeries as he faces a hearing over concerns he offered patients false hope.
Dr. Charlie Teo will face a second day of questioning by a medical complaints board, as he has so far defended his decision to perform two ultimately catastrophic surgeries.
The renowned neurosurgeon is the subject of a Health Care Complaints Commission hearing over concerns including that he offered patients false hope regarding their chance of survival.
Asked Thursday by commission counsel Kate Richardson SC why he disagreed with other experts’ evidence, Dr. Teo struck a defiant tone, praising his expertise.
He said he would not expect fellow neurologists Professor Bryant Stokes and Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff to know as much about brain stem tumors as he did, because it was not their specialty.
“It’s not just about reading a brain scan, it’s the nuances of a ‘sub-sub-specialty,'” he said.
Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo is famous for performing neurosurgery on patients with tumors deemed inoperable.
“I have more experience with brain stem tumors and brain stem tumor surgery than almost anyone in the world.”
The controversial surgeon was at times frustrated by Ms Richardson’s cross-examination.
‘I don’t blame you for being confused… but it’s what I do for a living,’ he told her.
The investigation heard that Dr. Teo told a patient that he had a five percent chance of a devastating outcome, such as death, locked-in syndrome, or complete paralysis.
“Five percent risk of a bad outcome means a 95 percent chance of a reasonable outcome,” he said.
In August 2021, the NSW Medical Council stopped Dr Teo from operating without another doctor’s approval after an investigation by the state’s health care complaints commission.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo (left) and his fiancee Traci Griffiths (right) arrive for an inquiry by the Health Care Complaints Commission’s Professional Standards Committee, in Sydney
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CELEBRITY SURGEON CHARLIE TEO
December 24, 1957 – Charlie Teo born in Sydney, son of Chinese-Singaporean immigrants
1981 – Graduates from the University of Sydney with a BSc in Medicine and a Sydney BSc after their education at Sydney’s elite Scots College
1982 onwards – works in general neurosurgery at the Sydney Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before moving to the US for 10 years, where he works in Dallas, Texas and Arkansas, where he becomes Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery
1990 – Teo returns to Australia to work at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney and founds the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and the Charlie Teo Foundation.
2000s – His fame spreads and he becomes a regular on television and on the social pages of newspapers.
2011 – Awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for services to medicine as a neurosurgeon
Charlie Teo returned to Australia in the 1990s to work at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney and founded the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and the Charlie Teo Foundation.
2019 – Urologist Henry Woo goes public with his concerns about Mr Teo’s work and the number of Gofundme campaigns raising money to finance his surgery, prompting a series of newspaper articles, TV investigations and complaints.
2021 – The NSW Medical Council held a special hearing on Mr Teo barring him from performing operations with special written approval from an experienced neurosurgeon, which he says he has been unable to obtain due to onerous restrictions on the approving surgeon.
August 2021 – The Health Care Complaints Commission launches an investigation into two more complaints
September 2022 – The HCCC hearing was supposed to take place but was postponed.
October 2022 – Three new complaints against Mr. Teo are filed with the HCCC
February 13, 2023 – Mr. Teo will face the HCCC for five complaints