Charlie Teo’s surprising next move revealed

A year after his fall from grace, the controversial neurosurgeon has popped up overseas with a surprising new life plan.

One of China’s most respected neurosurgeons has thanked Australia for shunning Charlie Teo because it has allowed her country to benefit from the controversial surgeon’s ability to remove high-risk brain tumours labelled as “inoperable”.

A year after Australia’s Health Care Complaints Commission imposed restrictions on Dr Teo, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal he is now operating regularly in China including on high profile VIPs – and at least eight other countries around the world.

More than 50 Australians dealt the crushing blow that is brain cancer have packed their bags and headed overseas in the past 12 months, chasing their one last sliver of hope.

Charlie Teo and professor Lin Feng. Teo is now operating regularly in China.

An investigation has found Dr Teo has operated on 150 patients in China, Spain, Germany, India, Switzerland, Brazil, Peru, South Africa, and Nepal since the restrictions effectively stopped him from operating in Australia.

In an interview from Beijing, Professor Ling Feng – Deputy Director of the China International Neuroscience Institute – said she is “not worried” about the restrictions imposed on Dr Teo a year ago for unsatisfactory conduct.

“I took a careful look into what happened over there. I don’t think it should be imputed to Charlie’s neglect of care and passion for the patients,” Professor Ling told the Sunday Telegraph.

“It is just a different view of the indications for surgery. Similar cases occur across the world. Instead, I ‘thank’ Australia for the restrictions on Charlie, which gave me the opportunity to work with him.”

Restrictions are effectively stopping Teo operating in Australia.

In the past year, patients have travelled from Australia – including from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia – Romania, Britain, Saudi Arabia, France, Indonesia, and Singapore to have Dr Teo operate.

Of those surgeries Dr Teo’s logbook documents one death, one “poor” outcome, three “fair outcomes”, 20 “good outcomes” and 145 cases have been documented as “excellent”.

Dr Teo says his results are better than ever and he feels terrible for patients in his own country that he can’t help.

He says that one day, he hopes his very public fall from grace on his home soil will make sense.

Teo pictured leaving the Health Care Complaints Commission Professional Standards Committee Inquiry from last year. Picture: Richard Dobson

“All it would take is one sensible and brave person in one hospital somewhere in Australia to change the status quo,” Dr Teo said.

“Just one person to sit back and go ‘okay he might be an a**hole, he might be into money, he might be a bit of a cowboy, he might be all the things the media have said he might be, but the fact is that patients, Australian patients, some need him and he does operations that other people don’t do and most of those outcomes are good so what about we just drop the politics and allow him to operate in Australia?

“That’s all it would take … some common sense for the greater good, not for his sake but for the sake of patients.”

Originally published as Charlie Teo’s surprising next move revealed