Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo says claims have been a ‘slur’ on his character

Claims that Dr Charlie Teo operated on the wrong side of the brain have been described as ‘appalling and a slur’ by the under siege Sydney neurosurgeon.

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has hit back at “appalling and inaccurate” claims he operated on the wrong side of two patients’ brains.

“For the record, I have never, ever operated on the wrong side of the brain in my entire career,” Dr Teo told the Sunday Telegraph.

The claims were contained in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Dr Teo said he was not ­afforded the opportunity to respond to the specific allegations made in the report, being asked only for general information about how many times he had been sued by patients.

Dr Charlie Teo says he wasn’t given the opportunity to respond to claims he operated on the wrong side of the brain. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

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Dr Teo said his family, friends and colleagues were “appalled” by the ­“inaccurate and damaging claims”.

“I was not given the opportunity to answer these slurs. If I had been given a chance to address the allegations I would have welcomed the opportunity,” he said.

He said both cases had simple and logical explanations.

“These attacks on my personal and professional record are unfortunately strongly affecting both my mental and physical health,” the 63-year-old surgeon said.

“Thankfully, I have had a three month sabbatical planned for the past year which will hopefully give me some time to gather thoughts and ­rekindle my passion to continue working, albeit in an hostile environment but one in which I feel that my services are needed.”

Charlie Teo says the allegations against him have taken a toll on his mental and physical health

The Herald referred to the case of Bradbury woman Michelle Smith who underwent a craniotomy in 2003 to remove a brain tumour after suffering debilitating seizures. According to the report on Saturday, specialists who ­reviewed MRI scans from Ms Smith’s brain surgery more than 10 years later were “horrified” when they “suspected” Dr Teo “had not only failed to ­remove her tumour, he had operated on the wrong side of her brain”.

Dr Teo said his medical approach was no mistake and he chose the ­appropriate procedure. “It was a novel approach to a ­tumour in a difficult ­location to reduce the risk of the procedure,” he said.

“The approach is well documented in the literature and is called a contralateral trans-falcine approach to mes­ial inter-hemispheric lesions.

“Ms Smith awoke in excellent neurological condition and was seizure free at her post-op visit,” Dr Teo said.

Dr Teo said the patient was informed the tumour was not completely removed at the time of the operation and he was unaware the seizures had returned until the law suit was filed. Attempts by the Sunday Telegraph to contact Ms Smith were unsuccessful.

Charlie Teo is considering his medical future during a three month sabbatical. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Ms Smith’s neurosurgeon refused to comment, saying she was “surprised” when she saw the article and she had not been interviewed.  

Sydney neurosurgeon Dr Michael Donnellan, who has operated with Dr Teo, said “there is a big difference ­between a wrong side surgery, versus a contralateral approach — or ­approach from the opposite side — to a tumour that is close to the midline of the brain”.

“This is a well recognised and reasonable approach,” he said, adding he had seen Dr Teo choose that method multiple times with good results. Dr Donnellan said “the possibility of wrong side surgery is negligible” in this setting.

In 2019 Ms Smith sued Dr Teo for professional negligence and the case was later settled out of court.

The Herald also reported a medical malpractice suit was filed against Dr Teo after he performed a biopsy on a military serviceman’s brain when he was working in Arkansas.

Dr Teo said the US case “in which I was never named in the lawsuit, was a biopsy that was successful in securing a diagnostic specimen and the issue that raised concerns was that the pre-operative scan was mis-labelled”.

Dr Charlie Teo at work with nurse Young Je in the operating theatre. Picture: Supplied

“The radiological department acc­epted full blame and both myself and the resident doing the case were exonerated,” he said. US radiologist Warren Stringer on Saturday confirmed he was the radiologist involved in the case.

“I do not look at this as a case of surgical carelessness or recklessness, rather as a case of being misdirected by the scans the stereotactic procedure is based on,” he said.

“The fundamental problem is that on this patient the stereotactic CT scan used to guide the biopsy was mislabelled; right and left were reversed,” Assistant Professor Stringer said.

“There were 17 other patients whose scans were affected; this ­patient was the first. I personally dictated all 17 correction letters.”

Prof Stringer said “the lawsuit against (Dr Teo) and the resident in Federal court was dismissed”.

“The separate lawsuit against me in state court, due to a difference in our salary sources, was withdrawn by the plaintiff’s attorneys after the judge indicated he found no merit and was about to dismiss the case with prejudice,” he said.

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