Wave of support for Dr Charlie Teo
Renowned brain surgeon Dr Charlie Teo has received an outpouring of support from doctors overseas calling for his current restrictions on surgeries to be overturned.
Dr Charlie Teo is not allowed to conduct any surgeries in Australia without written approval from a fellow surgeon after the Medical Council of NSW received three complaints about him.
This has led to the 64-year-old coming out and saying to 2GB radio host Chris Smith that he would even perform surgeries for free in public hospitals, because he has “had enough” of the ban from “jealous colleagues”.
“It's gang warfare. It's purely based on professional jealousy. Even a governing body has said that I'm a competent surgeon,” he said to Smith on air.
He said that there have been multiple instances in which his receptionist would break down crying when people would beg for him to perform their surgery.
“The bottom line is, it's a pretty desperate situation, it's sad, it's wrong,” Dr Teo continued.
“It all started from nameless, faceless, cowardly people who went to the media, made allegations and made up stories about me to try and destroy my reputation.
“If I'm as bad as surgeons say I am, if I'm offering people false hope and false promises, come out and say it... and put a face to the allegations.”
His comments come as six top-performing doctors across the world wrote to the Medical Council of NSW calling for the ban to be overturned.
Professor Giovanni Broggi, who worked for more than 40 years at the Neurological Institute Carlo Besta in Milan, said that Dr Teo’s willingness to perform risky operations and successfully is important to people and their families.
“Given his excellent clinical results and great surgical skills in treating brain tumours, Professor Teo often accepts to operate on very complex cases,” Professor Broggi wrote.
“This attitude, coupled with his ability to truly share the patient’s point of view, is what allowed him to save many patients.
“Although he could not save the life of patients affected by malignant brain tumours, such as Glioblastomas, the truth is that in most of the cases he was able to significantly prolong patients’ survival and to provide a good post-operative quality of life.”
Professor Paul Gardner from the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre said that Dr Teo’s emotional investment in each patient is what drives him to ensure he’s doing the best he can.
“All of us who manage the most complex and dangerous cranial tumours face the constant risk and fear of devastating complications,” Professor Gardner wrote.
“Indeed, the only way to avoid these in such cases is to never operate.
“It is clear, however, based on the medical literature, that many of these disease have significantly better prognosis and outcome if a more radical removal can be performed.
“It is exactly this tightrope that Prof Teo is willing and able to walk every day.
“Any of us who attempt to do so will occasionally have devastating complications. This is the nature of our business.”
“The emotional investment this requires cannot be overstated. I have seen Prof Teo invest this in every one of his patients I have seen treated and I have seen the impact on him when there is even a minor complication.
“There is no question in my mind that he is offering every patient the highest level of care available in the world.”
Stanford Medicines Associate Professor of Neurosurgery Robert Dodd also addressed the NSW Medical Council, calling for his colleague to be given permission to perform surgeries again.
“I hope you are able to navigate through this investigation and find direction to see that Professor Teo is indeed a good and passionate physician, a master surgeon, and an Australian treasure,” he wrote.
Dr Teo already had a name for himself in Australia, but it was when Amelia "Milli" Lucas, a 14-year-old from Perth who crowdfunded $170,000 to afford Dr Teo's services that he gained worldwide attention.
He flew across the country to Sydney to perform Milli’s operation and successfully removed 98 percent of her life-threatening brain tumour with the experimental surgery.
She was hailed Dr Teo's "miracle girl".
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