Famed brain surgeon Charlie Teo claims people are dying unnecessarily because he can no longer work in Australia
Famed brain surgeon Charlie Teo claims people are dying because he cannot perform life-saving surgeries on them due to practice restrictions imposed on him in Australia.
Dr. Teo gave one passionate interview to Sky News along with nine-year-old ex-patient Maddy Suy and her father on Friday.
The controversial surgeon has been banned from performing surgery in Australia without written permission from an independent neurosurgeon with 20 years of experience, after a professional standards committee found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct in July 2023.
Dr. Teo dismissed questions about whether he was a miracle worker, but stressed that without his help, countless people will die prematurely.
He now works mainly in Europe, where he has just operated on a Romanian boy and will undergo further surgery next week on a Turkish boy who has terminal brain cancer.
Charlie Teo gave an impassioned interview on Sky News in which he claimed people were dying because of the restrictions placed on him to work in Australia
Dr. Teo was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct by a professional standards committee in July 2023 and is banned from performing surgery in Australia without the written consent of an independent neurosurgeon with 20 years of experience
Dr. Teo claimed that in his 30 years working in Australia he saved lives by removing what many believed to be inoperable brain tumors.
He said his expertise is being wasted and that doctors in Europe are eager to learn from him.
“I can tell you right now that there is a 25-year-old girl from the Gold Coast, she has a brainstem glioma that I can remove in a heartbeat,” Dr Teo said.
'She can't afford to go abroad. All surgeons in Australia have told her it is inoperable. And yet it is a benign, operable tumor. And that's just one of many [requests] that I receive every day.
'It's just a fact that I specialize in brainstem gliomas. And yes, that expertise is no longer available here.'
The professional standards committee found that Dr Teo operated on two patients 'where the risk of the operation outweighed the potential benefits'.
Both had terminal brain tumors and both died as a result catastrophic brain injury.
Dr. Teo claimed that in his 30 years of practice in Australia he saved lives by removing what many believed to be inoperable brain tumors.
The professional standards committee found that Dr Teo operated on two patients 'where the risk of the surgery outweighed the potential benefits'
Despite the committee's opinion, Dr. Teo the Australian hospitals to give him a second chance and admit him back into the operating room.
“I'm still fully licensed,” he said.
“All I need is a hospital, a public hospital or a private hospital somewhere in Australia to give me privileges, and tomorrow I have to operate.”
His former patient Maddy defended him during the interview.
His former patient Maddy Suy (left) and her father Alan (right) defended him during the interview
Dr. Teo operated on Maddy three years ago after she was diagnosed an aggressive brain tumor and was given two years to live.
She called him a'great man' and said she couldn't understand why people 'hate him'.
Her father Alan said Dr Teo was their only option and he could not give up on his daughter, who doctors predicted had six to eight months to live after her diagnosis.
He said “any parent would do the same thing” if he took the risk with Dr Teo.
READ MORE: In Defense of Dr. Teo
Many of Charlie Teo's former patients have spoken out in defense of the surgeon, saying they were well aware of the risks of surgery, and that they should have the choice that Dr. Teo would operate on them.