Alliances: fair or lethal

Alliances are necessary for the development of individuals, institutions, and civilizations. Optimally, alliances provide benefits to their components; nevertheless, gains are not always symmetrical. Some alliances may prove detrimental or even lethal to some or all of the allies. I analyze some types of covenants using examples of history to provide a framework for drawing salient features of the alliance between the legal and the medical professions. This joint effort should be inherently beneficial to both; yet, particularly in the United States, the equilibrium is skewed against the medical profession. If it is not redressed, medicine and its specialties-in particular, dermatology-will go into a decline and wilt.