"Squamous cell carcinoma removal"

My parent attended their local hospital to get a relatively small SCC surgically removed from their face. The local GP decided to refer them to the visiting general clinician to get it removed as the lesion was on their face and the GP felt attending the hospital with better facilities, etc would be a better option with better outcome than getting it out at the lumps and bumps clinic conducted by the GP. My parent agreed as I had had a similar one removed at the hospital some months before and had a very good experience.

My parent attended all pre surgery clinic visits and on the day of surgery, I recall the clinician had poor bedside manner, appeared rushed and it seemed was unsure what my parent was attending for and asked them to clarify. My parent felt uneasy and lost confidence in them even before the surgery took place.

The clinician did explain the estimated size of the incision required to remove the SCC and my parent agreed to go ahead...but the result and quality of stitching I believe was obviously poor and rushed. It made my parent feel that the clinician was inexperienced in this area of surgery and was 'practicing on them' and had no interest in taking any time to minimize scaring despite the main objective being to remove the SCC which I recall the clinician said was large. Please note that my parent has been a clinician for more than 40 years and I believe is aware of such things.

The incision on my parent’s right cheek was 35 x 16 x 14 mm. They had the stitches removed 5 days later and within 12 hours, I recall the wound had completely dehisced. My parent attended the local ED immediately where treatment was swift, professional and reassuring. I attended alongside them and recall the staff member attending to my parent being shocked at the depth of the incision and questioned why it was so deep (no internal stitches, style of stiching used etc?) We were told there was a high risk of infection for obvious reasons and my parent was very worried about this.

No infection occurred and stitches were removed around 9 days after the second suturing. My parent saw their GP recently and I recall they also appeared surprised by the size and depth of the incision especially when the histopathology report said the invasion lesion was to a depth of 1mm and no evidence of SCC was seen. I believe the GP also noted that my parent wasn't the first person to have a negative experience during this most recent general surgery round.

Both my parent and I are aware that these things are unpredictable and more complex than may appear but I feel that they were treated with little concern and regard for them as a person and the outcome was radical and sloppy for something that was relatively minor to begin with, in my opinion.