At a medical board hearing, a man said that he “sold hope” that he could keep his wife alive until his six-year-old kid was eighteen.
Patient A underwent surgery in 2018 for stage 4 brain cancer, and she passed away in 2019.
Professor Teo, a surgeon with offices in Sydney, is defending himself against many Health Care Commission charges involving two former patients during a week-long public hearing before the Medical Council of New South Wales.
Professor Teo said he believed the proceedings would be an opportunity to present his perspective to the waiting media and supporters.
According to testimony given at the hearing, Patient A’s husband, identified as Person C, filed a formal complaint many months after his wife passed away.
Before presenting to a hospital in Perth, Australia, in September 2018, Person C claimed he observed his wife go from being in good health to experiencing increased headaches, neck discomfort, and nausea over a period of ten weeks.
A brain lump was discovered during a scan, and it was later determined to be a stage 4 malignant tumor.
Person C testified to the inquiry that two brain surgeons in Perth told them surgery was an option but was not suggested.
According to the inquiry, one warned them there was a 20% probability of “death or paralysis” from such a procedure.
Person C claimed his wife was “desperate,” so in October 2018 they flew to Sydney to see Professor Teo, who allegedly told them he could perform surgery that would enable her to attend their six-year-old son’s 18th birthday. Person C claimed his wife was “desperate,” so they went to see him.
We had only heard about the good cases in the media, he remarked, not the negative ones.
He sold us a lot of hope, and we were clinging to any hope we could.
Person C was questioned by Matthew Hutchings, the attorney for Dr. Teo, on Professor Teo’s calculation that performing the surgery had a 5% risk of death.
Yes, we thought that was rather low, Person C answered.
He claimed Professor Teo had additionally cautioned against consequences like tingling and blurry vision.
Person C claimed that because Professor Teo was departing for India at the end of that week, his wife promptly agreed to the surgery.
He claimed that after the procedure, Professor Teo informed him that the surgery had not been successful and the tumor had already spread to his wife’s other side of the brain.
Person C stated, “He’d cut on the other side and harmed the other half of the brain.”
Person C said that while he was aware that the procedure was “high-risk,” Professor Teo had not forewarned him about “going too far and inflicting damage.”
Person C said that the man had said, “I thought I understood where the line was.”
In April 2019, Patient A passed away in a hospital in Perth.
Due to limitations placed on his medical license, Professor Teo is presently prohibited from conducting specific surgeries in Australia without written authorization, and he is suing to have them lifted.
Numerous fans, including boxer Anthony Mundine and former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, gathered in front of the building where the hearing was held.
Former patient Lynette Waugh, wife of Mr. Waugh, claimed to have left the hospital 10 days after having keyhole surgery on her brain to treat the effects of a stroke.
Joanne McNiven, a different former patient, stated that Professor Teo had saved her life and that she was “sick to death of hearing him criticized.”
On Tuesday, the hearing is scheduled to continue.
