CARLO REYES, M.D., J.D. – ATTORNEY ON CALL

Los Robles Hospital Emergency Physician, Pediatrician and Healthcare Lawyer

Balances Scales of Medicine and Justice

What do you get when you put Dr. Marcus Welby and Perry Mason together? The answer is an easy one for his patients and clients – it’s Dr. Carlo Reyes. The 43-year-old Moorpark, Calif. resident wears numerous hats including emergency physician, pediatrician, Vice Chief of Staff and Assistant Medical Director of the Emergency Medicine Department at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, Calif.; an attorney at the medical malpractice defense and health care law firm Boyce Schaeffer, LLP; and a husband and father to four little girls.

“My first love in medicine was pediatrics and there is still nothing more rewarding for me than to help kids. But shortly after completing my residency training in both emergency medicine and pediatrics at University of California, Los Angeles, I experienced a mid-life professional crisis and wanted to revisit a passion I always had for law,” says Dr. Reyes. “My wife and I decided to attend law school together and it was one of the most difficult times in our lives as we juggled my work as an emergency physician, an inpatient pediatric hospitalist, my wife’s as a psychiatrist, and our responsibilities as parents for our daughters.”

While working as a full-time physician, Dr. Reyes attended Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and earned the Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 2010. He was a Junior Editor for the Southwestern International Law Journal and a two-year member in the Southwestern Moot Court Team, placing 5th, then 1st, as Brief Writer in two nationally recognized competitions. He is a member of the California State Bar, as well as the Los Angeles County and Ventura County Bar Associations. He continues to train emergency medicine and pediatric residents as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, California.

Upon completion of law school and after passing the California State Bar Exam, Dr. Reyes joined Boyce Schaeffer where he currently heads up the firm’s healthcare law practice, representing physicians, physician groups, and hospitals in various healthcare legal matters. In addition, Dr. Reyes utilizes his medical expertise to provide litigation support for the firm’s medical malpractice defense cases.

“Before law school, my only perception of healthcare law was medical malpractice. I was confounded by why hospitals and physicians were being found liable when they are doing everything in their power to save lives. There are so many physicians who don’t know or understand the laws that apply to them and that can be even scarier than malpractice itself,” explains Dr. Reyes. “I endeavor to teach my peers and counsel clients nationally about the expanding liabilities that federal statutes impose upon physicians and hospitals.”

Dr. Reyes’ contributions to the field of medicine, law, and the community continue to grow. In 2011, he was granted the Frist Humanitarian Award at Los Robles Hospital. In 2013, the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors (ASHPE) recognized Dr. Reyes as its 2012 Gold Award winner for his monthly medical-legal column, “At Your Defense,” published in Emergency Medicine News. Dr. Reyes is also a national lecturer, recently speaking at the 2013 American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly, the 2013 California ACEP Assembly, and the 2013 Southern California Association for Healthcare Risk Management.

“Initially, some were concerned that after law school I may want to quit medicine, but the experience further ignited my passion for healthcare and made me a better physician by making me more thoughtful and deliberate in my decision making,” says Dr. Reyes. “I’m looking forward to my time in the courtroom, but my calling right now is treating patients in the emergency room, young and old, who need my help.”

Case closed.

For more information about Los Robles Hospital and its medical services, please call 1-877-888-5746 or log on to www.losrobleshospital.com.

For more information about Dr. Reyes’ unique health care law and medical malpractice defense practice, log on to www.boyceschaefferlaw.com.

To read Dr. Reyes’ award-winning monthly risk management column, “AT YOUR DEFENSE”, logo on to http://journals.lww.com/em-news/pages/default.aspx.