Dr Charlie Teo flies out of Australia first class after authorities virtually ended his surgical career in Australia

Dr. Charlie Teo has boarded a first class flight to the Middle East after his surgical career was all but destroyed by health authorities in Australia.

The embattled neurosurgeon, 65, was spotted checking into his Qatar Airways flight to Doha at Sydney International Airport on Tuesday evening.

Dr. Teo seemed cheerful as he chatted with an airline employee at the check-in desk before wheeling a small suitcase to his gate.

The high-profile surgeon dressed casually in jeans, a t-shirt, a black blazer and a pair of comfortable sneakers for the 15-hour flight.

His departure comes after he was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct by the Medical Professional Standards Committee in July.

The decision came in the wake of the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) findings that Dr. Teo had failed to properly inform two of his patients about the risks associated with ‘experimental’ surgeries from which they could not recover.

The restrictions imposed by the HCCC have forced Dr Teo to admit that his career in Australia is all but over and to turn his attention to operating on patients abroad, advising other neurosurgeons and lecturing.

Dr. Teo has previously indicated that he will look to China to conduct surgery as they have “committed” to him, and that he will also continue to conduct occasional operations in Europe and parts of Southeast Asia.

Dr. Teo appeared before the committee with complaints that he had operated on patients where the risk of the surgery outweighed the potential benefits.

It was also alleged that he failed to obtain informed consent from the patients prior to surgery, charged another patient an improper $35,000 fee, and used inappropriate manners, with various swear words, to that patient’s daughter after surgery spoken.

The committee ruled that it had ‘considered these elements of the complaint’.

It found Dr Teo engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct in 2018 and 2019 while operating at Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney.

In one case, the committee concluded that he had ‘failed to exercise proper judgment in proceeding with surgical resection’ of patient A.

In another case, in patient B, “the physician performed an operation different from that proposed to the patient, and the surgical strategy led to an unwarranted and excessive removal of a normally functional brain.”

It was also found that Dr. Teo’s judgment in deciding to operate on patient A was inappropriate (because) it was a risky and inappropriate operation due to the nature and location of the tumor, its genetic type, and that the tumor was diffuse was (spread over a large area).’

Neither patient regained consciousness and both later died in hospital, one ten days after surgery and the other several months later.

The Medical Professional Standards Committee found that the surgeon had become ‘largely isolated from the majority of his colleagues and did not conform to a number of relevant accepted professional standards’.

The commission ordered that Dr Teo be ‘reprimanded and imposed conditions on his registration to protect the public’.

Now the surgeon must provide a written statement from a Medical Board-approved neurosurgeon that supports him in performing recurrent surgical procedures on malignant intracranial tumors and brainstem tumors.

He is also not allowed to work in the United States and Singapore.

The restrictions placed on the high-profile surgeon have drawn criticism from his large fan base, some of whom are former patients.

Earlier this week, Kellie-Anne Goodwin, a brain cancer survivor, defended Dr Teo and said she was extremely grateful to him.

Despite being wheelchair bound, Ms Goodwin said she would always stand by him after a series of other surgeons refused to operate on her.

Her comments echoed those of Aimee Kennedy, a Queensland woman, who said her life was over before Dr Teo decided to operate.

After two surgeries to remove a brain tumor as a teenager, it grew back and doubled in size, with doctors encouraging her to enjoy the time she had left.

She sought Dr. Teo’s help as a 19-year-old and said she was thoroughly advised of the risks before undergoing surgery.

“I am now 36 years old, I am married, I have two children and I am still alive,” she said.

Hundreds of fans of the surgeon plan to walk across the Sydney Harbor Bridge on September 17 in protest to show their support.

“Many have asked what you can do to show your support… Well, I would be honored if you would join me on the Sydney Harbor Bridge in solidarity,” Dr Teo wrote to supporters a week ago.

He said he was disappointed “but not surprised” by the conditions placed on his practice, but would “never” accept failing to get proper consent or lack empathy for his patients, adding admitted that he had been ‘demonized’ by the media.