While we disagree on a lot, not here.
The last person I heard insist individuals were "responsible" for all evils that befall them was Shirley Maclaine.
God is the creator of every moment in our lives; and the suffering therein is, as you say, an opportunity to be closer to the suffering of Christ.
C.S. Lewis in "The Problem of Pain" spoke to this also.
Hopefully, God's gift of conversion to Dr. Kornfeld advanced him beyond this gnostic idea of karma and into a fuller understanding of God's sovereignty in all things.
My guess is that it ties into his NOT having any Bible or other Christian literature available.
He's a new Christian; the only scripture he knows is the Lord's Prayer, and he derives his theology from "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."
I think we need to be sympathetic of his circumstances.