Charlie Teo’s flawed operation results in payout to family

Controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement figure to the children and husband of a patient who died soon after he operated on her incurable brain tumour.

Teo, who did not offer a defence, had previously been found guilty of professional misconduct over the operation in question.

Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo leaves a Health Care Complaints Commission Professional Standards Committee inquiry in February 2023. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Two years ago, Teo’s disciplinary hearing was told that in September 2018 a Perth woman was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour known as a glioblastoma.

Perth neurosurgeons had told her that her life expectancy was 12 to 18 months and that any attempt to remove the tumour would be futile and “of no benefit whatsoever”.

“I have not recommended open resection of her tumour which would be high risk for causing neurological deficits without significantly improving her long-term outcome,” Professor Charles Lind wrote in his initial report.

The desperate family turned to Teo. The woman’s husband told the Health Care Complaints Commission hearing that he took contemporaneous notes during a consultation with Teo in Sydney in October 2018. He said Teo said there was a 5 per cent risk of death and a 50 per cent risk of minor complications, such as a wonky eye and tingling down one side.

Teo offered hope to the mother of three, saying that with surgery she might live to see her six-year-old reach his 18th birthday.

But the operation, which was performed the day after the consultation, was a disaster. The woman did not regain consciousness. She was taken by helicopter to Perth, where she died in April 2019.

The Professional Standards Committee found that Teo’s decision to operate on the Perth woman was unethical and improper and that “there is no directly relevant statistical data, medical literature and/or clinical guidelines to support the type of surgery proposed to Patient A”.

The findings against him include that he lacked insight and judgment and failed to properly explain the risks of operations.

Delivering his orders in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice David Davies said Teo gave the woman certain advice about the risks associated with the operation.

“In the events that occurred, the risks were alleged to have been understated, and the deceased died within about six months of the operation, and she never properly recovered from that operation,” Davies said.

Her widower and three children sued Teo last May for the mental harm caused by the advice given by him and the operation he performed.

Her husband had sought compensation of $533,757. According to his statement of claim, he said he had developed PTSD and alcohol use disorder that a psychiatrist attributed to the death of his wife.

Teo outside his disciplinary hearing in March 2023.Credit: Nick Moir

His three children, who had suffered from depression and anxiety, had been seeking a total of more than $1 million.

Teo reached an earlier confidential settlement with the father and the eldest of the children, who is now an adult. The court needed to approve the settlement terms agreed for the two younger children, who are still minors.

In the absence of a defence from Teo, a key issue for the court to determine was how much of their mental harm was caused by the surgeon and how much by the death of their mother, whose condition was terminal before she consulted Teo.

But Davies said he was satisfied with the reasons given by their lawyer and expert advice provided by a psychiatrist that the agreed amount was “entirely appropriate”.

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