Controversial neurosurgeon Dr. Charlie Teo becomes furious when repeatedly questioned about cutting too far into a patient’s brain, before exploding: “I did something wrong… I went too far.”
- Dr. Charlie Teo questioned in a disciplinary hearing
- He was visibly frustrated and said ‘I went too far’
Star neurosurgeon Charlie Teo erupted at a disciplinary hearing when repeatedly asked if he cut too much into a patient’s brain while removing a tumor, admitting that it irreparably “harmed” the woman.
Dr Teo returned to the witness stand in Sydney on Monday for a hearing against the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) on two surgeries he performed that left patients with catastrophic brain injuries.
Both female patients, named Patient A and Patient B, had terminal brain tumors and were only given weeks or months to live. Both were left in a vegetative state and passed away shortly after Dr. Teo performed surgery to remove their tumors.
Dr. Teo has a reputation as a neurosurgeon willing to perform risky surgeries and has a legion of followers, however he has been criticized by members of the medical establishment for his alleged behavior and surgical practices.
A panel of legal and medical experts is examining Dr. Teo’s conduct, including whether he adequately informed his patients of the risks involved.
When the hearing resumed Monday morning, Dr. Teo was repeatedly asked by the commission’s attorney, Kate Richardson SC, during cross-examination if he cut the midline of Patient A’s brain.
Dr Teo returned to the witness box in Sydney on Monday for a hearing against the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC). He is pictured with his fiancee Traci Griffiths.
He asked her if she would agree to her telling the patient’s husband that she did not know where the midline of the brain was and that she “cut the line and damaged the other side.”
Dr. Teo became visibly frustrated and intervened: “Look, we can work this out, I did something wrong.”
‘Clearly I damaged this lady, and I damaged this lady because I got too into my brains. Whatever happens, I take full responsibility for the fact that she was my hand, my technique, my fault that she did not wake up.
The thing is, I made a mistake. A surgical error and I went too far and made a mistake. Nobody disputes it.
Previously, Dr. Teo agreed that operating through the midline was not deliberate, but responded when asked if it was an “accident.”
‘An accident? There are no accidents in surgery. You do an evaluation,’ said Dr. Teo.
“It can be difficult to determine where the tumor ends and the normal brain begins.”
However, Dr. Teo agreed with Richardson when he asked if he agreed with an expert opinion when he described the surgery as a “radical resection.”
Previously, Dr. Teo agreed that operating through the midline was not deliberate, but responded when asked if it was an “accident.”
Ms. Richardson then asked if she deliberately went beyond the enhanced area, which is where the tumor was in Patient A’s brain.
Dr. Teo responded, ‘I wanted to stick to the enhanced area, but it’s hard to tell and sometimes I stray.
“It can be tolerated in some parts of the brain, but clearly not in this patient… I think that’s why she didn’t recover.”
Earlier Monday, Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff said that based on his assessment, Dr. Teo went “beyond the midsection of the brain” when he operated on Patient A, but he couldn’t say whether it was deliberate.
“It would be very risky and unreasonable to go beyond the tumor,” he said.
“In this area, going beyond the enhanced part of the tumor would be considered very risky.”
However, he told the hearing that it was “difficult to say” whether Dr. Teo deliberately went beyond the midline because the tumor went through both sides and it can be hard to tell where the midline is.
“I don’t know if you can tell from the scan what was a deliberate wand and what was not,” he said.
The hearing continues.