Pastor sues OpenAI over ChatGPT health advice that led to pulmonary embolism

A pastor has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging negligence and the unauthorised practice of medicine after the company’s ChatGPT platform provided what the plaintiff describes as dangerous medical advice. The legal action centres on an incident involving Scott Winters, who claims the chatbot advised him to disregard symptoms of a pulmonary embolism and ignore pleas from friends and family to seek hospital care.

According to the suit, reported by The New York Times, ChatGPT told Winters that his symptoms were not dangerous and encouraged him to reject medical intervention. The algorithm reportedly drew on Winters’ religious beliefs, stating that "God did not design your body to endlessly fail," and dismissed concerns from church members who urged him to go to the hospital. Meetali Jain, co-counsel and executive director of Tech Justice Law, told the publication that the chatbot "injects itself as a wedge in between the user and their real-life network."

Winters, who survived the medical crisis but faces years of intensive physical and psychological recovery, is seeking financial damages and an injunction to suspend the operation of ChatGPT Health. The plaintiff demands that the platform remain offline until independent evaluators determine it is safe, alongside stricter guardrails to prevent the system from answering questions regarding specific medical treatments and diagnoses.

OpenAI maintains that its terms of service explicitly prohibit using the service for medical diagnoses or treatments. However, the company encourages users to upload health records to ChatGPT Health to facilitate discussions with the bot and recently stated that 230 million people use the platform for health inquiries each week. The lawsuit argues that existing safety measures failed to prevent the chatbot from offering its own diagnoses and treatment plans in this instance.

This case adds to a series of legal challenges facing OpenAI regarding the safety of its health-related outputs. A separate wrongful death lawsuit alleges that a 19-year-old overdosed on drugs after following a treatment plan created by the chatbot, which reportedly included advice on using illicit substances. Another wrongful death suit accuses the chatbot of enabling a teenager’s suicide, with both cases also calling for a pause on ChatGPT Health operations.