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The Surgeon

Posted 29 March 2024 in Brain Teasers.

Read the text below carefully.

The surgeon quickly donned white coat, cap, and gloves. Theatre assistants were preparing for a major operation. The ambulance would soon be arriving.

A young boy had been crushed in a serious road traffic accident, and hospital staff had to assess the viability of at least one of his legs.

The surgeon grunted and pulled on the tight gloves, wiping away sweat from a dripping brow.

“Which anaesthetist have we got today?” called out a nurse.

“John Barrows!” barked the surgeon, impatiently.

Medics wheeled in a trolley. The small boy’s shock of red hair caught the surgeon’s eye. In a split second, the surgeon took in the scene, lurched across to the trolley, and gasped loudly: “I can’t do this operation. This is my son!”

What kind of a person is the surgeon? When you are satisfied you have read the text carefully, read the end of the story:

“The theatre staff was stunned. There was a moment’s silence, and then a tiny voice called out from the trolley: “Mummy, Mummy, don’t leave me!”

What does the story tell you about your prejudices?