Famed neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has likened his shattered reputation to that of a falsely accused pedophile in a podcast he recorded just days before a medical tribunal actually ended his career in Australia.
On Thursday, a day after the Tribunal’s verdict was handed down, Dr Teo was seen at Sydney Airport with his fiancée Traci Griffith dressed in black and wearing a cap that read: ‘Psycho (eyes) wide open.’
Dr. Teo is known for his willingness to perform risky surgeries on brain tumors deemed useless by other doctors, but has come under constant fire from the medical establishment for his controversial practices.
He is now expected to continue working in Spain, where he is still allowed to operate.
Famed neurosurgeon Charlie Teo is spotted at Sydney airport with fiancé Traci Griffith
Dr. Teo was seen at Sydney airport with his fiancé Traci Griffith, dressed in black and holding a cat that reads: Psycho (eyes) wide open
In two major complaints, the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) held a hearing in March on two surgeries performed in 2018 and 2019 in which the female patients, ages 41 and 61, suffered catastrophic brain injuries.
Dr. Teo spent two emotional months battling the complaints on the stand — telling a medical panel why he cut too far into one patient’s brain and why he removed more than three inches from another.
On Wednesday, the HCCC found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct. The verdict means he will not be allowed to operate unless a credentialing board gives him permission.
His many supporters across Australia were outraged by the decision – to take to social media to cover the HCCC and express outrage that patients will have to pay thousands more to travel to Spain, where he is still allowed to operate.
During the podcast, he compared the professionals who filed complaints against him to false pedophile accusers whose accusations destroy reputations.
“The only reason they’re accusing that person of pedophilia is because they want to destroy their reputation and their life, and they know full well it’s not true,” he told host Bradley Dryburgh.
“Once you label that person a pedophile and it spreads across media outlets and the internet, you can’t erase that from your book — it will always be there.”
Dr. Teo (pictured, engaged to Traci Griffith) is known for his willingness to perform risky surgeries on brain tumors deemed inoperable by other doctors, but has come under constant fire from the medical establishment for his controversial practices.
Dr. Teo (pictured fiancé Traci Griffith) spent an emotional two months battling the complaints on the stand – he told a medical panel why he cut too far into one patient’s brain and why he removed more than three inches from the other. Others
He then targeted Sydney Morning Herald reporter Kate McClymont for publishing an article in 2021 claiming he operated on the “wrong side” of a patient’s brain.
“It was completely defamatory and completely defamatory and it would only have taken one phone call for journalists to realize it was defamatory,” he said.
Dr. Teo explained that he was taken off the lawsuit because “it was the fault of the radiology department for mislabeling the X-ray.”
“One phone call would have done that and that journalist didn’t make that call.”
He also spoke openly about his medical colleagues, explaining that he said they had been trying to destroy him since he returned to Australia from the US in 1999.
During the podcast, he compared the professionals who filed complaints against him to false pedophile accusers whose accusations destroy reputations
‘I knew my colleagues were after me, I created more enemies than friends. and one day they would devise a strategy to take me down,” he said, adding that he was “proud” to have survived 25 years without prosecution.
“The fact that I survived when they caught me when I was 65 isn’t so bad as to be ashamed that they won in the end.”
After the decision was made on Wednesday, his fans and former patients were outraged, pointing out that future patients with life-threatening tumors will have to save tens of thousands of dollars to travel to Spain.
Although Dr Teo has been effectively barred from operating in Australia, medical professionals have allowed him to perform high-risk surgeries at two hospitals in Spain.
So far, he has reportedly performed surgeries at Hospital Quiron de Torrevieja in Alicante, southeastern Spain, and Hospital Universitario Fundacion Jimenez Diaz in Madrid.