"Shame on you!”: Dr Teo’s rumoured fiancée comes to his defence
<p dir="ltr">Dr Charlie Teo’s alleged fiancée and former patient has spoken out publicly in defence of the disgraced surgeon and slammed recent media reports.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Traci Griffiths hit out at reports initiated through a joint investigation by <em>60 Minutes</em> and Nine newspapers, resulting in claims emerging from disgruntled patients and their families that Dr Teo offered them false hope in performing procedures. </p>
<p dir="ltr">One patient claimed Dr Teo operated on the wrong side of her brain, but the 64-year-old surgeon has since rejected and corrected this claim.</p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-2b86c30b-7fff-18ee-8e25-082ef714f37b"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">In the aftermath of these claims, Griffiths took to social media to defend Dr Teo, sharing a quote from Mister Rogers: “Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.”</p>
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<p dir="ltr">The model, animal activist, and pet apparel designer also shared a screenshot of a 60 Minutes exclusive article with Dr Teo, adding to the caption: “I’m so proud of this extraordinary human! He shouldn’t have to spend his time and energy constantly refuting all this media BS! #ShameonyouAustralia!”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ms Griffiths also shared a link to the full 60 Minutes interview, in which Dr Teo told host Tracy Grimshaw that a current project could see him operate again in Australia while avoiding the hospital system and “politics of medicine”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I do have a project going on at the moment … at Blacktown, where they may be building an institute in my name that will be a centre of excellence for neurosurgery and neurosciences,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“If there’s a place in Australia that says, ‘We want you with open arms, we love what you’re doing, we’re going to support you’, I’ll take it in a heartbeat.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">This comes after the NSW Medical Council ruled that Dr Teo couldn’t perform procedures without written approval from an independent neurosurgeon in 2021, and amid recent reports he has been performing surgeries in Spain.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ms Griffith’s comments come days after she was spotted leaving a Sydney Gala event hand-in-hand with Dr Teo and flashed a diamond ring.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d6feeef7-7fff-50d2-d693-d6333c6535af"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr">While Dr Teo has denied rumours that the pair are engaged, Ms Griffiths has shared photos of the pair with hashtags including “#ilovemyfiance” and “#myfiance”.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Ms Griffiths received treatment from Dr Teo in 2011 after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.</p>
<p dir="ltr">While Dr Teo has admitted he made mistakes during his surgeries during a recent interview with <em>A Current Affair</em>, an investigation by <em><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/some-people-pay-the-price-risk-and-reward-in-charlie-teo-s-world-20221027-p5btfi.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sydney Morning Herald</a></em> reported that several families were unaware that the surgeon made mistakes while operating on their family members.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Prasanta Barman, an engineer from India whose four-year-old son Mikolaj was operated on by Dr Teo, told the outlet that he “could not sleep the whole night” after hearing the admission that Dr Teo’s surgery had injured his son.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Following the operation, Mikolaj didn’t walk again or speak and died months later.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“This is totally new to me. He never told us that something wrong happened during surgery and that led to his critical condition. I came to know this only now and that also from the TV,” Mr Barman said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In October 2018, Mr Barman paid $80,000 for Dr Teo to perform a 10-hour operation on Mikolaj at a Singapore hospital. The surgeon then spent ten minutes telling Mikolaj’s parents he had removed 85 percent of the tumour and that it appeared benign.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But, Mr Barman said that after the operation Mikolaj was “in the bed in a vegetative state, he cannot play, he can just blink his eyes, and say yes or no to us”.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-3beab975-7fff-6e24-9967-73f7ccfebdc2"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @veganforearth (Instagram)</em></p>
