Three surgeons and a clumsy cook go camping in the remote wilderness. The clumsy cook stumbles over the campfire as he is serving the surgeons, injuring himself and dumping hot stew on the hands of the surgeons.

The cook's injuries need surgical treatment. The surgeons' injuries are minor but open. It turns out they brought the equipment necessary for the cook's surgery with them, and they can use the campfire to sterilize the tools. But there are only two rubber gloves. Because of the different surgeons' skills, all three of the surgeons are needed to operate on the cook, in sequence.

How can this be done without any of them being exposed to the blood of any of the others?

(In reply to solution by Fay Duncan)

This is a good idea, but it says "all three of the surgeons are needed to operate on the cook", which I think means they have to actually do it.

There are actully only 3 people who need glove/gloves, but 4 glove surfaces. So unless a surgeon operates with only one hand, there isn't any possibility other than a "trick" answer like sterilizing the gloves on the campfire in my opinion.

Posted by Gamer on 2003-07-21 17:15:33