‘Put her in the bloody chair’: Teo accused of telling staff to tie patient with sheets
When one of Charlie Teo’s patients failed to regain consciousness after an operation, the neurosurgeon demanded that intensive care staff “put her in the bloody chair, tie her with sheets if you have to”, the patient’s daughter has told a disciplinary hearing.
On the first day of the Health Care Complaints Commission’s five-day hearing into numerous complaints of unsatisfactory conduct on behalf of Teo, two witnesses gave evidence of what they claim was the false hope Teo gave their families when other medical professionals had warned that such operations were futile.
Controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo is greeted by supporters as he arrives at a disciplinary hearing into his procedures.Credit:Peter Rae
A nurse from Melbourne, whose name was suppressed, described how upset she was to find her mother like “a vegetable” in intensive care after Teo’s operation four years ago. She said that Teo was attempting to rouse her into consciousness.
When grilled by Teo’s barrister Matthew Hutchings about witnessing Teo telling nursing staff to use bedsheets to tie her mother into the chair, she replied that was “100 per cent accurate”.
“Nobody else wanted to operate on Mum’s tumour because it was too risky,” she told the hearing.
She agreed with Hutchings that her mother, who was in a wheelchair and deteriorating due to her brain tumour, wanted to have the surgery. She added that was because Teo had given her mother hope she would live for another 10 years.
There was no opening address to the tribunal, meaning the nature and details of the various complaints, or how long the patients survived after their operations, have not been revealed so far. The Professional Standards Committee hearing the matter is headed by former Family Court judge Jennifer Boland. Also on the panel are two Victorian neurosurgeons and one layperson.
The HCCC’s counsel Kate Richardson, SC, said the commission was seeking that the famous neurosurgeon be reprimanded and conditions be put on his practising certificate.
The first witness, who was from Perth, said his late wife was diagnosed in September 2018 with a stage 4 glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumour that invades the nearby brain tissue.
Former Australian cricket captain Stephen Waugh was among Charlie Teo’s supporters attending the disciplinary hearing.Credit:Peter Rae
His wife was given 12 to 18 months to live.
Perth neurosurgeon Professor Christopher Lind told the couple that surgery would be futile and “of no benefit whatsoever”.
“I have not recommended open resection of her tumour which would be high risk for causing neurological deficits without significantly improving her long-time outcome,” Lind wrote in his report.
But Teo offered hope that with surgery his wife might live to see their six-year-old reach his 18th birthday. The surgery was a disaster with his wife left in a vegetative state, the hearing was told. She died several months later.
The witness denied Teo had fully explained the serious risks. He also denied the suggestion that Teo said his wife might like to go back to Perth to see her children before the surgery as “she may never have that opportunity again”.
Over the weekend, Teo sent text messages and emails to rally his supporters. As a result, dozens turned up to the hearing that only had 17 seats for the public.
Former Australian cricket captain Stephen Waugh and his wife Lynette, who had a blood clot removed by Teo, managed to secure seats but boxer Anthony Mundine did not.
Asked what he thought about the criticism aimed towards Teo, Mundine told news.com.au: “There will be people that hate it … it’s a 50/50 game, you’re gonna win some, you lose some.
“But I’m here. If you want to kick him, come kick me too,” Mundine said outside the inquiry being held in Sydney’s Pitt Street.
In a podcast with businessman and former host of Celebrity Apprentice Australia Mark Bouris last week, Teo lashed out at the disciplinary procedures against him, saying it was driven by enemies and business rivals jealous of his “superior skills”.
“It’s got nothing to do with fairness, what’s right or wrong. It’s all got to do with people’s agendas. And the agenda is to destroy Charlie Teo,” he said.
“I know that I’ve got this skill … I take out tumours that no one else can take out. And all the surgeons around the world that watch me are just absolutely amazed by it. So when I operate in other countries, I get four or five or 10 or 20 neurosurgeons watching it, and they just are blown away by it.”
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