On 12 July, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission found that Professor Charles Teo was guilty of two counts of unsatisfactory professional conduct in 2018 and 2019, thus ending a saga that has captivated a nation.
The commission agreed that while working as a neurosurgeon at Prince of Wales Private Hospital, Professor Teo decided to operate on two patients where the risk of surgery outweighed any potential benefits.
“The practitioner failed to ensure that Patient A had sufficient time between his initial consultation with her and her husband and carrying out the surgery…to allow the patient to make an informed decision as to whether to proceed with the proposed surgery,” the judgement said.
“The practitioner’s decision to operate on Patient A…was inappropriate in circumstances where the risk of neurological morbidity, including vegetative state, associated with radical (>95%) resection of Patient A’s high-grade BSG outweighed any potential benefits from the surgery.”
The commission also reported that Professor Teo charged a fee of $35,000 for performing a radical resection of Patient B’s tumour the following year, which was to be paid prior to surgery, contrary to normal billing practice for medical services.
This was before operating on Patient B without informed consent, after using inappropriate language as part of the process of obtaining permission to proceed with surgery.”
The judgement went on that in his dealings with Patient B, Professor Teo asked her, “What the fuck are you crying about? I’m here to fix you, you should be happy.” And “I’m not going to bullshit anything. If you don’t have this operation by Tuesday, you’ll be fucking dead by Friday,” he said.
Similarly, when confronted by Patient B’s daughter after the failed procedure, Professor Teo told her that she was “asking the wrong fucking question.” “Would I do it all over again? Fucking oath I would. You should be grateful. I’ve given the family extra fucking time.”
The commission ordered that Professor Teo be reprimanded and imposed conditions on his registration to protect the public, including the need to obtain a written statement from an Australian Medical Council-approved neurosurgeon that supports him performing recurrent malignant intracranial tumour and brain stem tumour surgical procedures.
Without such a statement, he cannot perform the surgery.
Professor Teo must also maintain a log listing all the patients for whom he has obtained a written statement, regardless of whether the AMC-approved neurosurgeon supported the procedure or not, and a copy of the log must be submitted to the AMC within seven days of the end of each month.
Professor Teo has been placed under category C supervision in accordance with the Medical Council of NSW’s Compliance Policy, and will be required to attend monthly supervision meetings, where he is to provide a self-reflection document of the preceding month, including areas of improvement and areas of success.
Professor Teo was also given 12 months to complete the Ethics Counsel Program for Health Professionals, organised by the Ethics Centre, as well as the Clinical Communication Programme run by the Cognitive Institute.
Additionally, Professor Teo must advise the Medical Council of NSW in writing at least seven days before changing the nature or place of his practice.