Dr Teo erupts over money question while speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GB

Appearing on 2GB’s Breakfast program with Ben Fordham, there was one question that left controversial neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo exasperated.

Dr Charlie Teo lost it after being grilled about the money he charges his dying patients.

Appearing on 2GB’s Breakfast program with Ben Fordham, there was one question that left the controversial neurosurgeon rattled.

After asking him about how he deals with complications during surgery, whether he’s affected by his patients dying and responding to claims put forward by disgruntled former patients and their families, Fordham finished the interview with the question: “Do you need the money?”

In response, Dr Teo appeared exasperated.

“Ben. Again, I find this incredibly despicable. I am not a money hungry person,” he told the radio host.

“Talk to anyone who knows me knows I don’t dress in nice clothes, I don’t have a nice car – I don’t have a car if it wasn’t for Audi being generous and giving me a car, I wouldn’t have one.

“I don’t live in the Eastern Suburbs. I don’t have a boat. There’s no spoils of wealth. I’m not into money.”

Controversial neurosurgeon said he wasn’t motivated by money. Picture: Sam Ruttyn.

Ben Fordham asked Dr Teo: “Do you need the money?”.

Dr Teo added that he performs four months of pro bono work a year, which means he has to pay for expenses like his malpractice insurance and the fees that come with running his business.

He also said that when he operates in the private hospital system will often require patients to pay upfront, or have the funds required before the operation is guaranteed. This is because private hospitals operate on a “business model” geared towards making money.

“I’m not saying I’m a saint, I’m simply saying money isn’t in my sphere. It’s not part of my drive,” he reiterated.

“Money is the root of all evil, I just don’t like it and the fact that people try to label me as a money hungry surgeon who has disregard for life because of money, that is really despicable.”

‘I don’t do that:’ Teo hits back at misinformation claims

On Tuesday night, Dr Teo was grilled by Tracy Grimshaw on Nine’s A Current Affairs over claims he promised one patient there was no chance he would lose his sight during surgery.

“If I had guaranteed that there was no chance of blindness, that is me saying the wrong thing, that’s misinformation,” he said.

“I don’t do that, you can’t do that and not get sued, someone will sue you one day and after 11,000 cases, you don’t think if I have set out to a handful of patients I’d be sued by those patients?

“In that case, I thought the chance of blindness was almost zero, but I never give a guarantee. They are claiming I said that I guarantee you won’t be blind, that is absolute lie, I did not say that I would never say that you be foolish to say that.”

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo responded to claims he charged large sums of money for ultimately futile operations that left patients catastrophically injured. Picture: A Current Affair.

He also spoke at length about how his failed surgeries personally affect him, admitting that he has photos of his patients on his phone to remind him of the importance of his job.

“There is a French vascular surgeon who wrote a book on the philosophy of surgery, and I don’t think you can put in any better words when he said ‘every surgeon carries with himself a small cemetery’.

“My cemetery is not small, it’s a significant sized cemetery. (I have) pictures of my patients on my phone to remind me every day I’ve got to do it better.”

Teo supporters hit back

Since Sunday’s 60 Minutes and Nine Newspapers expose which denounced Dr Teo for giving false hope and charging families large sums of money for operations, former patients and their families have doubled down in his support.

24-year-old woman, Monica Lopresti credits the 64-year-old surgeon with saving her life. In May 2022 she was diagnosed with a benign cystic tumour in the middle of her brain that began affecting her memory to the point where she forgot her own brother’s name. After seven Sydney-based neurosurgeons refused to operate on her, Dr Teo agreed, she told news.com.au.

Ms Lopresti says Dr Teo explained the risks, which included death, paralysis and being left in a vegetative state, she decided to proceed with the surgery, which took place in Spain on July 21.

Dr Teo with former patient Monica Lopresti Picture: Supplied.

Commenting on the accusations, Mr Lopresti says that “to say that Dr Teo gave false hope or robbed people. It just isn’t true”.

“I wasn’t living a life. I was always calling in sick and I wasn’t having the quality of life that I wanted.”

Within four days of her surgery, Ms Lopresti says she was back on her feet and has had her life restored. While the operation restored her quality of life, she’s most appreciative of the care and attention to detail she received during her treatment.

She says Dr Teo was in constant contact with the family and messaged them to have a safe flight. After experiencing a panic attack in the days before the surgery, the surgeon FaceTimed Ms Lopresti after her mum texted him at 2am in the morning.

“Despite the fact I could have driven 25 minutes to have the surgery in Sydney, [we had to] travel 23 hours and I would do it all again,” she said.

Ms Lopresti travelled to Spain in order to receive the surgery. Picture: Supplied.

Teo unable to operate in Australia

Rules imposed by the Medical Council of NSW since August 2021 mean Dr Teo is unable to perform high-risk procedures unless he has written approval from a second independent neurosurgeon with more than 20 years of specialist experience.

Recently speaking to Mark Soderstrom on the podcast The Soda Room, Dr Teo said he believes his restrictions are the result of a broken medical system.

“It’s a dysfunctional system whereby a competitor can make a vexatious complaint about you, you are immediately presumed to be guilty,” he said.

“And then you’ve got to prove your innocence to the very person who complained about you. How can that system work?”

Dr Teo said the restrictions meant that he is unable to perform lifesaving surgeries, which he estimates leaves nine patients a week without potentially lifesaving care.

“So the sadness of the situation is that my entire practice was mostly taking out tumours that other people called inoperable, so that was 90 per cent of my practice,” he said.

“That’s 10 tumours a week. So that means, quite conceivably, that there are nine patients a week, who are missing out on either extension of life or cure from a condition that I know that I can help. Now that’s sad.”