A man has told a medical disciplinary hearing controversial brain surgeon Charlie Teo "sold hope" that he could keep his wife alive until their six-year-old son turned 18.
The woman, referred to as Patient A, underwent surgery in 2018 for stage 4 brain cancer and died in 2019.
Sydney-based surgeon Professor Teo faces a week-long Medical Council of New South Wales public hearing where he is defending himself against several Health Care Commission complaints relating to two former patients.
Professor Teo told waiting media and supporters he hoped the proceedings were a chance to tell his side of the story.
"The truth lies somewhere between what you've heard and what I'm going to say, I'm sure," he said.
The hearing was told the husband of Patient A, referred to as Person C, made an official complaint months after his wife's death.
Person C said he watched his wife go from being healthy to having increasing headaches, neck pain and nausea over 10 weeks, before she presented to a Perth hospital in September 2018.
A scan found she had a mass in her brain, which was later confirmed as a stage 4 malignant tumour.
Person C told the inquiry that two Perth-based brain surgeons advised them surgery was possible but not recommended.
One told them there was a 20 per cent chance of "death or paralysis" from such an operation, the inquiry heard.
Person C said his wife was "desperate", and in October 2018 they flew to Sydney to see Professor Teo, who allegedly told them he could perform surgery that could allow her to make their six-year-old son's 18th birthday.
"I guess we'd heard in the media the positive cases. We hadn't heard the bad cases," he said.
"We were grabbing onto any hope that we could. He sold us a lot of hope."
Dr Teo's lawyer, Matthew Hutchings asked Person C whether Professor Teo had calculated there was a 5 per cent risk of death if he performed the surgery.
"Yes. We considered that to be quite low," Person C responded.
He said Professor Teo had also warned there was a risk of complications, such as tingling and blurred vision.
Person C said his wife consented to surgery quickly as Professor Teo was leaving for India at the end of that week.
He said following surgery, Professor Teo broke the news that the surgery had not gone well and the tumour had already infiltrated the other side of his wife's brain.
"He'd cut on the other side and damaged the other side of the brain," Person C said.
Person C said he understood it was a "high-risk" surgery but Professor Teo had not warned him about "going too far and causing damage".
"He said, 'I thought I knew where the line was,'" Person C said.
Patient A died at a Perth hospital in April 2019.
Professor Teo is currently banned from performing certain surgeries in Australia without written approval, as a result of restrictions placed on his medical licence, and he is seeking to have them overturned.
Dozens of supporters gathered outside the building where the hearing took place, including former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh and boxer Anthony Mundine.
Mr Waugh's wife, Lynette, is a former patient, and said she walked out of hospital 10 days after Professor Teo performed keyhole surgery on her brain following a stroke.
Another former patient, Joanne McNiven, said Professor Teo had saved her and she was "sick to death of hearing him criticised".
The hearing is due to continue on Tuesday.
