Famed neurosurgeon Charlie Teo claims people are dying because he cannot perform life-saving operations on them due to practice restrictions imposed on him in Australia.
Dr. Teo gave a passionate interview to Sky News along with nine-year-old former patient Maddy Suy and her father on Friday.
The controversial surgeon is not allowed to perform surgery in Australia without written approval from an independent neurosurgeon with 20 years’ 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 insisted that without his help, many people would die prematurely.
He now works primarily in Europe, where he just operated on a Romanian child and has another surgery scheduled next week for a Turkish child who has terminal brain cancer.
Charlie Teo gave a passionate interview on Sky News where he claimed people were dying because of the restrictions placed on him working in Australia.
Dr Teo was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct in July 2023 by a professional standards committee and is not permitted to perform surgeries in Australia without written approval from an independent neurosurgeon with 20 years’ experience.
Dr Teo said that in the 30 years he practiced in Australia he was able to save lives by removing what many believed were inoperable brain tumours.
He said his experience was being wasted and that doctors in Europe were eagerly learning from him.
“I can tell you right now that there is a 25-year-old girl from the Gold Coast who has a brainstem glioma that I could remove in a heartbeat,” Dr Teo said.
‘She can’t afford to go abroad. Every surgeon in Australia has told her she is inoperable. And yet, she is a benign and operable tumor. And that’s just one of several (requests) I receive every day.
‘It’s a simple fact that I specialize in brainstem gliomas. And yes, that experience is no longer available here.”
The professional standards committee concluded that Dr Teo operated on two patients “where the risk of surgery outweighed any potential benefit”.
Both had terminal brain tumors and both died as a result of Catastrophic brain injuries.
Dr Teo said that in the 30 years he practiced in Australia he was able to save lives by removing what many believed were inoperable brain tumours.
The professional standards committee concluded that Dr Teo operated on two patients “where the risk of surgery outweighed any potential benefit”.
Despite the committee’s judgement, Dr Teo asked Australian hospitals to give him a second chance and allow him to return to the operating theatre.
“I still have a full license,” he said.
“All I need is a hospital, a public hospital or a private hospital somewhere in Australia that will give me privileges and I will be operating tomorrow.”
His former patient Maddy defended him during the interview.
His former patient Maddy Suy (left) and 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 is given two years to live.
She called him a ‘amazing man” and said he couldn’t understand why people “hate him.”
Her father Alan said Dr Teo was his only option and he could not give up on his daughter, who doctors predicted would have six to eight months to live after her diagnosis.
He said ‘any parent would do the same’ at the risk of taking 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 the surgery and should be allowed to choose to have Dr Teo operate on them.