Surgeon Henry Woo claims he received hate mail after Charlie Teo comments
Henry Woo has been forced to shut down his social media account in the wake of his remarks about controversial brain surgeon Charlie Teo.
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Top Sydney surgeon Henry Woo has revealed he has received hate mail, abusive phone calls and been trolled on social media after voicing concerns on Twitter about controversial brain surgeon Charlie Teo.
Professor Woo this morning said he was taking a break from Twitter.
“I never expected trolling to be of this magnitude. Not just social media but hate mail and even abuse (sic) phone calls,” he tweeted this morning.
His Twitter has since been made private.
The prominent urological surgeon this week questioned the “really disturbing trend” of people launching online fundraising campaigns to be treated by Dr Teo at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital.
Dr Teo is famous for performing potentially lifesaving surgeries other surgeons will not, and has an army of passionate supporters.
Professor Woo, from the University of Sydney and Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, pointed to 113 GoFundMe campaigns, commenting that if it was “valid surgery”, it would be provided in the public system and would not leave patients destitute.
Some fundraising campaigns have raised more than $120,000 in the hope Dr Teo can extend or save someone’s life.
In a tense interview with Georgie Gardner on Nine’s Today show following Prof. Woo’s comments, Dr Teo said all of the money raised did not go to him.
“Let’s get our facts straight first,” he said. “The fact is, although some patients do have to pay over $100,000, that doesn’t all go to the surgeon or even the team.
“It is in a private hospital, which is accounting to their shareholders. They have to make a profit.
“So, for example, that $120,000 bill that Henry Woo is talking about, $80,000 to the private hospital. $40,000 then gets dispersed among not only the surgeon, the assistant, anaesthetist, pathologist, radiologist, radiographer. It is not that great an amount to each individual person, when you get your facts straight.’’
Dr Teo said in that scenario, he would get $8000.
He said Professor Woo should focus on his own work.
“Get back to your lab, try and find a cure for prostate cancer. I will try and find a cure for brain cancer, thank you,” Dr Teo said.
Originally published as Surgeon Henry Woo claims he received hate mail after Charlie Teo comments
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