News that cancelling surgery because a patient’s prospects for survival were considered minimal and the intervention itself was too risky is surely shining a light on the issues being balanced by mainstream neurosurgeons in Australia, including our most popular surgeon Charlie Teo, renowned for thinking outside the box (“‘Charlie faces a new battle” ST, 31/5). Taking on board advice from colleagues and reassessing his own protocols, we now see him being sued for not wanting to take extreme risks. This reminds me of circumstances in anaesthetic practice in the 1990s, where doctors were being sued for not fully informing patients of any complications whatsoever that might arise from the surgery. Confusion arose when a woman in the US having an epidural for caesarean section successfully sued her anaesthetist for frightening her with too much information. No doubt, commonsense will again resolve these complexities. Alan Sexton, Parramatta 7June2026