If you have a straightforward, mild condition, Dr. Karnani is perfectly polite. However, if you…read morehave a complex autoimmune presentation or a severe flare, I cannot recommend him. He lacks the clinical curiosity and willingness to investigate complex symptoms when standard, basic lab work comes back normal.
During a severe autoimmune flare involving intense, bone-deep pain (7-9/10) in my left femur, Dr. Karnani repeatedly dismissed my symptoms as simple muscle aches and told me to take ibuprofen. He stated that steroids are only to be used when absolutely necessary. When I noted that a previous, undocumented response to steroids he had provided for flare-related urticaria was suggestive of a systemic inflammatory issue, he initially refused a prescription, later calling in a 10mg dose of Prednisone that was inadequate and left me shaking from pain for a week.
When his office finally saw me in person, I took immediate action and explicitly terminated our patient-provider relationship, notifying him that I had already contacted UCLA and would no longer require his services because he was not listening to me. Only after I fired him, and after he looked through a medical packet I had compiled myself, did he casually state that my symptoms matched a "rare complication associated with lupus"--yet he explicitly refused to tell me what that complication was. Instead of practicing medicine, he chose to focus on my tone, weaponizing my medical diagnosis by claiming my SLE medications were "impacting my mental health" because I used "the F word" exactly once out of unmanaged physical pain and frustration. He then claimed he was refusing to see me, attempting to twist the situation after I had already broken off the relationship.
The most alarming, retaliatory failure of care occurred later. Even though I had already terminated our relationship, his office called to direct me to stop taking my maintenance Plaquenil entirely for a month until my UCLA intake. When I informed them I would not be taking medical advice from a doctor I had just fired, Dr. Karnani actively went into the system and revoked my pharmacy refills for Plaquenil. Cutting off a vital maintenance medication for a patient known to experience recurrent flares in retaliation for being dropped is unethical, dangerous, and could have triggered a catastrophic systemic flare. Fortunately, UCLA immediately recognized the risk and issued a 12-month replacement prescription.
It took three months and multiple high-dose methylprednisolone pulses to get the femur pain under control.
While Dr. Karnani insisted my labs were normal (other than a relatively low 1:80 ANA) and characterized my illness as mild, UCLA took less than a month to run advanced diagnostics that clearly indicate a systemic issue, and I am now aware of treatments I may come to need, such as IVIG.
The lack of adequate treatment provided by Dr. Karnani was one of the most harrowing medical experiences I have had in the 15 years I have known I am sick. A pleasant bedside manner cannot replace a lack of investigative drive or professional ethics. If you need a rheumatologist who looks for "zebras" and actually listens to patient history when standard blood work is quiet, go elsewhere.
