Charlie Teo answers his critics admitting he’s made mistakes
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Australia’s foremost neurosurgeon, Dr. Charlie Teo, has admitted to making mistakes, but accuses him of being money-hungry as ‘despicable’.
dr. Teo has been unable to operate in Australia for the past 15 months without written approval from a fellow surgeon due to restrictions placed on him by the NSW Medical Council after the body received three complaints.
He is also being investigated by the Health Care Complaints Committee.
dr. Teo was further investigated this week when he was accused of charging huge amounts of money to the desperate families of two children, one of whom was left in a vegetative state – and both of whom died within a year.
Now he has hit back at the allegations against him in an extended Q&A.
dr. Charlie Teo says he doesn’t like money, which he described as the root of all evil
For the past 15 months, Dr. Teo unable to operate in Australia without written approval from a fellow surgeon due to restrictions placed on him by the NSW Medical Council after the body received three complaints (surgeon is pictured with partner Traci Griffiths)
He told the Daily Telegram that he was ‘human’ and that all doctors make mistakes.
“I take responsibility for my poor results and of course I feel sorry for that. You should be a sociopath if you weren’t.
“I have never denied that I make mistakes, but I categorically deny the claim that bad results mean nothing to me. That’s an absolute insult and it’s just wrong.
“I don’t know a single doctor who isn’t personally affected when they have complications. Every doctor has complications, but what I firmly deny is that I downplay them and they don’t take an emotional toll on me.
“I treat all my patients as members of my family and if something goes wrong I feel terrible and if I didn’t feel terrible I shouldn’t be in the game.”
He also hit back at claims that he is an “ego man” and said people who claim he “hasn’t met me yet.”
The controversial neurosurgeon also hit back at allegations that he is money-hungry.
He said: ‘I think this is a despicable accusation and completely wrong. I am not a money hungry person. I work pro bono in developing countries for four months a year.
“I’m not saying I’m a saint, but I’m certainly not driven by money. I am convinced that the love of money is the root of all evil and I have lived by that mantra since it was taught to me as a child by my mother.
In 60 Minutes, Michelle Smith, who was 19 years old when Dr. Teo operated on her, which she discovered ten years later that he had operated on the wrong side of her brain.
dr. Teo responded to the claim, insisting that he had never operated on the wrong side of the brain.
He also said it would have been impossible for him to do this because at the time he was being guided by technology that would have prevented him from working on the wrong part.
Parents Prasanta and Sangeeta Barman (above with their late son Mikolaj) paid Charlie Teo $80,000 to operate on the four-year-old in a last-ditch effort to extend his life
Bella Howard (above) died at age seven, just eight months after Dr. Teo had her brainstem tumor operated on, charging her parents Gene and his wife Sarah $100,000
dr. Teo also claimed that he told Ms Smith that the tumor had not been removed and offered her future surgery if her seizures ever returned.
He also spoke about the case of Mikolaj Barman from Assam in India, who was one of two children who suffered from DIPG when his parents Dr. Teo for help.
A DIPG tumor is considered inoperable and multiple neurosurgeons told 60 Minutes they were “shocked” that a doctor had attempted to treat Mikolaj.
The surgery to remove the tumor from his brain stem left him unable to walk, speak or breathe unaided. He died 10 months later, in August 2019, shortly after the tumor returned.
His father has since said he regrets agreeing to the surgery and said their last 13 months together had been “spoiled.”
dr. Teo said he would never have said he could cure him, but instead explained that healing was possible if the tumor was focal and benign. He also said he believed that a DIPG is often misdiagnosed in up to 40 percent of cases.
He said he took full responsibility for the failure of the operation, but insisted that he made the risks clear to Mikolaj’s father.
dr. Teo also dismissed accusations that the surgery was “useless” and caused harm to the boy. Despite the result, he also said he would try again if he could.
Bella Howard, of Shoal Bay, NSW was operated on by Dr. Teo after her parents desperately tried to prolong her life when a DIPG was detected on her brain stem.
dr. Teo (pictured halfway through surgery) said he had not been sued by Bella or Mikolaj’s families for being “acutely honest” with them when outlining the risks of surgery
She was left with paralysis on the left after Dr. Teo had paid $100,000 for surgery in April 2020 and died seven months later after the tumor returned.
Doctors on 60 Minutes questioned the neurosurgeon’s decision to operate, but insisted there was a “real chance” he could help Bella.
He said he did his best to help her, but admitted it had been a “very sad” end to her life.
During the interview, he also slammed the medical community, claiming that other doctors were jealous of him.
‘Unfortunately. there is a lot of professional jealousy among surgeons to the detriment of patients,” he claimed.