In August 2021, the NSW Medical Council restrained Dr Teo from operating without the approval of another doctor after an investigation by the HCCC. "I'm not going to go into the finer surgical aspects with a patient. You don't want to confuse them," he said. He said he didn't want to confuse patients by getting into the "finer neurosurgical details". Ms Richardson pressed Dr Teo why he wasn't clearer with the patient about whether the tumour was in the tectal plate region of the brain, rather than the tegmental, which is more dangerous to operate on. Last week, the committee was told Dr Teo differs with two expert witnesses, Bryant Stokes and Andrew Morokoff, who said the risk of "profound neurological deficit" from conducting the surgery was 60 per cent.ĭue to his different interpretation of brainscans, Dr Teo told the patient the risk of death, paralysis or locked in syndrome was just five per cent. "I want to suggest to you that you deliberately gave untruthful evidence to the committee for that reason. Lawyer for the HCCC, Kate Richardson SC put it to Dr Teo he changed his evidence to protect himself after going ahead with the high-risk surgery. For over 30 years Prof Charlie Teo AM has been instrumental in the development, dissemination and acceptance of the concept of keyhole minimally invasive. The high-profile surgeon was greeted by a large crowd of supporters when he arrived for a fifth, and possibly final day, of a Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) hearing in Sydney. Under questioning Dr Teo firmly denied he had deliberately altered his evidence in order to mislead the committee. They do.During the hearing, it was put to Dr Teo he has changed his evidence over where he believed the tumour was in the brain, and the decision to operate, in order to reduce his liability. ![]() “I’m not trying to deny that complications happen. “They’re just trying to paint me to be some sort of money-hungry, reckless, non-compassionate doctor – I’m not,” he said. Teo was restrained by the NSW Medical Council in August 2021 from operating without the approval of another doctor after an investigation by the state’s health care complaints commission. “I did it in their best interest, thinking it was going to help them – it didn’t,” he said. He said before Wednesday’s hearing he didn’t regret performing brain surgeries that left the women with catastrophic injuries. Teo is known for performing neurosurgery on cancer patients with tumours other doctors have deemed inoperable but has been accused of charging exorbitant fees and offering some patients false hope. “You’d have nothing else to do other than have neurosurgeons in your commission if that was the line you took.” “I think every brain surgeon in the country would be guilty of not declaring they take out normal brain tissue when they remove a brain tumour,” D’Urso said. They agreed it was common not to disclose it to a patient, but Morokoff said in this instance the patient should have been made aware due to the extreme amount of normal brain tissue being removed. The experts were asked whether Teo should have disclosed the amount of healthy brain tissue to be removed during the procedure. “If you asked 100 neurosurgeons what they would do they’d probably have different answers,” D’Urso said. They all said they likely would not have performed the surgery given the risks involved but added the decision to offer a patient surgery could vary depending on the practitioner. The experts told the commission the amount of normal brain tissue removed during the surgery was at the upper end of what they had seen during their careers. ![]() ![]() Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Morokoff explained there were other medically accepted techniques to invoke pain in a patient to rouse them that didn’t carry “insulting” social and cultural implications. Outside the hearing, Teo said the slap had in fact been a tap on the face as an alternative to other methods, which he described as “kinder and gentler” for the patient. “Regardless of the family members it’s entirely unacceptable to slap a patient across the face,” D’Urso said. Neurosurgeons Andrew Morokoff, Bryant Stokes and Prof Paul D’Urso unanimously condemned Teo slapping the patient but said his decision to undertake the surgery, while controversial, was not black and white.
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