Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo to face more complaints at disciplinary hearing next week

Charlie Teo will face a disciplinary hearing in a matter of days after he was hit with five more complaints from disgruntled former patients. 

The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) set the hearing after receiving a number of complaints alleging unsatisfactory professional conduct by the controversial Sydney neurosurgeon.

Dr Teo was initially facing two complaints, with the hearing scheduled for last September before it was postponed.

The five-day hearing will now start on Monday with a further three complaints being submitted to the HCCC since October, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The highly-regarded brain surgeon has been unable to operate in Australia without written approval from a fellow doctor for the past 15 months due to restrictions placed on him by the Medical Council of NSW. 

Among the restrictions placed on him in 2021, Dr Teo was banned from performing any ‘recurrent malignant intracranial tumour and brain stem tumour surgical procedures’ unless a neurosurgeon with at least 20 years of experience submitted a written approval for him. 

Dr Teo will learn if those restrictions will be lifted pending the outcome of next week’s hearing. 

The neurosurgeon’s critics have repeatedly slammed the surgeon for his approach to treating patients with tumours that are deemed inoperable, while his supporters have credited him for saving their lives.

One of his patients, Bella Howard, seven, of Shoal Bay, NSW was operated on by Dr Teo after her parents desperately tried to prolong her life when an aggressive tumour was detected on her brain stem. 

She was left with left-side paralysis after the family paid Dr Teo $100,000 in April, 2020 for surgery and died seven months later after the tumour returned.

Doctors on 60 Minutes questioned the neurosurgeon’s decision to operate but he has insisted that there was a ‘real chance’ he could help Bella. 

The highly-regarded brain surgeon has been unable to operate in Australia without written approval from a fellow doctor for the past 15 months due to restrictions placed on him by the Medical Council of NSW 

In an interview later with The Daily Telegraph, Dr Teo said he was ‘human’ and had made mistakes in his career, but denied allegations he was money-hungry, pointing to his four months of pro bono work a year in developing countries.

‘I have never denied that I make mistakes, but I categorically deny the allegation that bad outcomes mean nothing to me. That’s an absolute insult and it’s simply wrong,’ he said.

‘I don’t know any doctor that’s not personally affected when they have complications. Every doctor has complications, but what I vehemently deny is that I trivialise them and that they don’t take an emotional toll on me.

‘I treat all my patients like members of my family and if things go wrong, I feel terrible and if I didn’t feel terrible, I shouldn’t be in the game.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Dr Teo for comment.