Friend diagnosed with cancer, little information

Sept. 8 th my husbands legal, latino friend from work went to hospital, on a dr. Advice (not sure who or what kind) then dr. @ hospital tells him it is ulcer, but did endoscopy and found it was cancer. Dr. Told him you need this surgery (esophagectomy and u will be fine) sept. 11 th did surgery in am then told him it didn't work or could not be done. Dr. Then told him u just need to go home and prepare to die. This dr. has not come back since then. I am not sure of exactly what text or procedures dr. Did to diagnosis and stage the cancer. Even though he speaks good english it is mainly basic, and I don't think he would've understood everything the dr. Told him. My questions are:
Did dr. Have enough time to properly diagnosis and stage this cancer?
About how long should it take to properly diagnosis and stage
What else (besides my opinion of not all test were done to properly diagnosis, stage and check for spreading) could have caused surgery to not work or not be completed?
Isn't it most common to try chemo and/or radiation before surgery?
If Dr. Cut into him without knowing it had spread further, wouldn't this have made it worse and spread more?