Lateral Thinking Puzzles

6. Like a Surgeon

6. A man and his son are in a car crash. The father is killed and the child is taken to hospital gravely injured. When he gets there, the surgeon says, 'I can't operate on this boy - for he is my son!!!' How can this possibly be?

Added 1 January 2007 · Updated 12 July 2026

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Hint:

This has nothing to do with adoption or time travel.

Solution:

The surgeon can not operate on her own son; she is his mother.

Comments (3)

Anonymous 29 January 2008

and there's nothing to do with adoption or time travel this is gd.

Anonymous 18 June 2016

The puzzle about the surgeon is confusing. It's not illegal for a surgeon to operate on her own son, so why can't she?

Anonymous 21 June 2017

Can you find the mistake? HINT: When 'HE' gets there. This assumes that 'he' is male - father, and not mother, which I believe is a reasonable understanding.

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