Neurosurgeon and critic of Charlie Teo makes sensational backflip after 60 Minutes appearance

After criticising the Australian neurosurgeon’s approach to a highly aggressive cancer, Prof Mark Souweidane sent Dr Charlie Teo a telling email.

A world-renowned neurosurgeon who criticised Dr Charlie Teo’s surgical approach has appeared to backtrack on his opinions.

Appearing in the joint investigation by 60 Minutes and Nine Newspapers, US paediatric neurosurgeon, Mark Souweidane questioned the Australian doctor’s approach to diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) tumours. The highly-aggressive form of brain cancer is located in the middle stem of the brain which makes it difficult to treat.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Prof Souweidane said that this kind of tumour should never be operated on, because of where it sits in the brain.

“(It’s the) part of the brain that decides when you breathe and when your heart beats,” he said.

“To go in and remove that area would remove the very part of the brain that keeps you alive.”

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The US surgeon and expert on DIPG tumours criticised Dr Teo’s approach. Picture: Sam Ruttyn.

However, this was what Dr Teo did in the case of his former patient, four-year-old Mikolaj Barman. Despite a diagnosis of incurable DIPG, Dr Teo believed surgery would be “able to remove the entire thing”.

Instead Mikolaj’s father, Prasanta Barman said that despite draining his savings and retirement funds to pay for the operation, it left his son unable to independently eat, walk, or communicate unless it was through blinking his eyes. Ten months after the operation, the tumour returned and Mikolaj died shortly after.

Dr Mark Souweidane specialises in paediatric neurological surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

Although Prof Souweidane appeared to be dismissive of Dr Teo’s approaches in his interview with 60 Minutes, a letter sent by him to Dr Teo after the segment aired declared that he respected Teo.

2GB presented Ben Fordham aired the contents of the letter on Thursday.

“I respect you,” the email read.

“The realm of the uncharted territories in neurosurgery is a place of solitude”.

Teo’s former patients come to his defence

Since Sunday’s 60 Minutes episode aired, Dr Teo’s ability as a neurosurgeon has been closely dissected by public opinion and former patients.

Dr Teo was accused of giving patients false hope, with multiple patients also complaining about the high costs of his surgeries.

Other former patients, however, credit Dr Teo with saving their lives and said their experiences were positive.

Monica Lopresti, 24, credits the 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 included death, paralysis and being left in a vegetative state. She decided to proceed with the surgery regardless, in Spain on July 21.

Commenting on the accusations, Mr Lopresti said 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.”

24-year-old Monica Lopresti credits the neurosurgeon with saving her life. Picture: Supplied.

Teo defends himself

Dr Teo has also defended his actions. Speaking to Tracy Grimshaw on Nine’s A Current Affairs on Tuesday night, Dr Teo said he never guaranteed outcomes to patients.

“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’d be foolish to say that.”

Charlie Teo told ACA’s Tracy Grimshaw he denied he misinformed patients. Picture: A Current Affair

In another interview with Ben Fordham on Wednesday, the neurosurgeon appeared exasperated after the topic of money came up.

“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 ... 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.”