I was flattered and somewhat perplexed by a recent invitation to give a speech to a medical-legal association comprising doctors and lawyers. What perplexed me was that a group of medical practitioners, presumably of sound mind, would knowingly form an association with a group of lawyers.
Doctors have much to lose from being cosy with lawyers.
Mainly, they are in danger of being tarred with the same brush that routinely tars lawyers. The sad truth is that the practice of law rates only slightly higher than the practice of politics in the subterranean depths of Canadian public opinion. When you take into account the fact that lawyers account for a sizable percentage of the political community, you can see that the legal profession in general has fallen into a giant black hole of negative public esteem. Doctors have every reason in the world not to touch a lawyer with a 10-foot tongue depressor. Yet they knowingly form professional associations with them.