Charlie Teo: ‘I’ve been crucified. I have no choice but to try China’

Controversial neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo says he will investigate opportunities to work again in China, after conceding his future in Australia is likely over.

Controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has confirmed he will soon be performing complicated brain stem surgeries in China, conceding his future in Australia is likely over.

Dr Teo is saddened “but not surprised” by conditions placed upon his practising certificate after a probe into two brain surgeries that had devastating outcomes.

However he “will never” accept that he failed to gain proper consent or lacks empathy for his patients.

Nor will he accept that he is void of remorse, exclusively telling The Saturday Telegraph: “I am not guilty of what I am accused of. I reject what they say I have done. They just don’t believe me, so why would I show remorse for something that I deny?”

While Dr Teo vehemently defended himself in relation to the two complaints raised by the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), testifying that he has always worked in line with local and international standards of practice, he doesn’t have the fight left to take the case to the NSW Supreme Court.

Dr Charlie Teo and his partner Traci Griffiths in the aftermath of the decision. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

“I could appeal, I think I would win. They wouldn’t be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the things they have accused me of because they are not true. But I’m not sure I have the strength to run an appeal. Furthermore, I don’t have the money to do so,” he said.

“And then the whole emotional turmoil.”

Dr Teo instead will focus on saving lives in countries that will allow him to.

“I have just been granted privileges in China, in three different hospital,” he said.

“The fact that I have been crucified over here didn’t appear to affect their decision, so I am going over there to check the facilities, make sure they are good. They just bought the latest MRI for me.”

Dr Teo said he was committing to a future in China “because they have committed to me” and would continue to do the occasional cases in Europe and parts of Southeast Asia that required his expertise.

However, he is devastated that he can no longer help in his home country.

Dr Teo and Ms Griffiths were photographed for The Saturday Telegraph while volunteering at the Wesley Community Centre in Wollongong as they have done for years. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

“No-one is denying the tragedy for these two families,” he said of the HCCC ­findings. “However, both patients had rapidly terminal diseases and were determined to not go down without a fight. To deny Australians who are thrust into this unenviable situation the autonomy to dictate their own treatment options, is criminal.”

This week’s findings “send a clear message to any doctor who offers contrary second opinions, that by doing so, you are exposing yourself to the wrath of your more conservative colleagues”, he said.

Dr Teo said neurosurgeons across Australia are now loathe to undertake risky surgery as they fear being “vilified by the media and judged by colleagues who may not have the skills to treat these patients with rare and difficult tumours”.

“I continue to receive calls every week from sufferers of rare brain tumours for my help, yet I am forced to turn them away,” he said.

The HCCC committee found Dr Teo guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and placed conditions on his registration which effectively means he can no longer operate in Australia.

Dr Teo said he doesn’t have the energy or money to fight the decision.

He says he will never accept the assertion that he lacks empathy.

The committee found Dr Teo did “not exercise appropriate judgment in proceeding to surgical resection” of one patient and performed “unwarranted and excessive removal of normal functional brain” on another patient.

It found that of “greater significance” was his “lack of reflection on his judgment in offering surgery without supporting statistical data or peer support which, in his own experience, may or may not be proved to have been in error in 10 years’ time”.

The committee found that while Dr Teo expressed “sorrow and takes responsibility for bad surgical outcomes, he does not express any remorse” for offering the surgeries.

Dr Teo said he will never accept the assertions that he lacks empathy and fails to explain risks.

He said the implication that he put people’s lives and his own career at risk for money is “reprehensible”.

Dr Teo said the very nature of his high-risk surgeries, the fact no other doctors will touch them, shows people who come to him know the risks from the outset.

Dr Teo was interviewed by journalist Cydonee Mardon, who is also one of his former patients. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

“So they are accusing me of not ensuring that they understand the risks involved. I mean they’ve been told by two other surgeons that ‘that the risk is too high, we are going to let you die’,” he said.

After spending a couple of days at home in Wollongong reflecting on the 112-page finding, Dr Teo said the restrictions placed on him were slightly better than the temporary restrictions imposed in October 2021.

“I have been unemployed for two years now, no income. I’ve had my reputation tarnished across the globe. So they know I have been ­punished,” he said.

However, he knows the variation to the restrictions means little.

“I hope that I might find a supervisor but I’m not so optimistic,” he said.

During the hearing Dr Teo was criticised for saying he knows more about complex brain tumours than almost anyone in the world, even expert witnesses in the hearing.

Dr Teo said he would seek to work in China so he could keep helping people. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

But he said he will never be “put in a box” or “play the game” expected of him.

“They want me to say ‘Oh my gosh you are as good a surgeon as I am, my complication rate is the same as yours and when you think an operation is too risky I should think the same,” he said.

Dr Teo says the panel expects him to base his risk assessment on the “average neurosurgeon in Australia” when they do, on average, one to two brain tumours a month over a 30-year career.

“That’s 300 to 600 brain tumours in a career compared to my log book that shows 300 to 350 brain tumour operations a year,” he said.

Dr Teo also rejects the claim he gives false hope: “There is no such thing as false hope. Granted, there is such a thing as false information, but unless you have been in the room with me during the consent process you would not understand the complexities and nuances of informed consent.

“Indeed, studies have shown that patients and their families only take in a third of what is said during a consultation.”

Dr Teo says he hasn’t had paid employment for two years. Picture: Jeff Darmanin

He will never understand the “ludicroucy” of him not being allowed to push the envelope – to offer operations that no one else is offering because he has no evidence.

“You are never going to get the evidence until you start pushing the envelope,” he said.

A condition placed on Dr Teo is that he needs to show that benefit outweighs risk.

“The trouble with this condition is that benefit is so individual and variable … is giving someone six extra weeks of life considered a ‘benefit’?,” he said.

He has kept a young man’s letter thanking him for giving him six weeks of extra life.

“That’s all I gave him. But in those six weeks he got engaged, he bought a dog and he had time to say his goodbyes. Who’s going to put a price on that?,” he said.

* Cydonee Mardon is a former patient of Dr Teo

TEO SPEAKS: Spotlight on Channel 7, 8.40PM SUNDAY