Dr. Vanita Chawla, MD

Dr. Vanita Chawla is dangerous and incompetent. She refused to acknowledge my experiences of severe trauma, refused to do anything to diagnose me with 20 minutes remaining in our appointment; told me that she doesn't know "if she can believe me"; when I offered to show her evidence, she said "she doesn't care about evidence"; she should not be a medical professional and should have her license revoked, for her refusal to accept evidence. Terrible; all she's interested in is milking you for follow up appointments. Dr. Chawla departed from professional standards during my consultation. Instead of evaluating me on the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria I described, she told me I was "making excuses" and "not taking responsibility for my own mental health." Those are personal judgments, not clinical assessments, and they substituted stigma for diagnosis. She failed to provide medically necessary documentation or appropriate referral, despite my clear report of trauma, symptoms, and impairment.… This constitutes unprofessional conduct under California B&P Code §2234. I disclosed severe trauma history and current impairment consistent with DSM-5 criteria for PTSD, and explicitly requested a letter required by my university for visa and academic continuation. Dr. Chawla refused to provide documentation despite clear evidence of impairment, offering only indefinite follow-up appointments. This refusal, in context, was not clinically justified and directly jeopardized my education, immigration status, and mental health. This constitutes: Failure to meet the standard of care - a reasonable psychiatrist, given the clinical information presented, would either provide the requested documentation or promptly refer. Instead, she obstructed care. Failure to respect patient autonomy - dismissing a direct, medically relevant request. Failure to act in the patient's best interest - knowingly exposing me to preventable harm by withholding necessary documentation. Unprofessional conduct - substituting bureaucratic deferral ("follow-ups") for actual care.

She doesn't care for patients. She doesn't schedule follow ups and she doesn't send prescriptions on time.

I felt like an inconvenience to her schedule and time more than a patient. I was in crisis and after half a dozen appointments, we still tread water. I ended up doing my own research, dropping her and moving on. Passive, not involved.