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A Florida man is suing OpenAI and CEO Sam Altmanclaiming that the company’s chatbot, ChatGPTShe provided him with incorrect and “dangerous” medical advice regarding a health condition that almost became fatal.
According to the lawsuit, Scott Winters, a 55-year-old pastor, often turns to ChatGPT for medical advice when he experiences health symptoms. The chatbot ultimately diagnosed Winters with dyskinesia, a nervous system disorder, and “developed a personalized recovery plan with specific instructions for Scott on how to heal his body,” the suit claims.
But on July 13, 2025, Winters suffered a “massive pulmonary embolism due to multiple blood clots in both lungs that put him on the brink of death,” he said. The suitwhich was shared by multiple publications. Doctors’ notes later contradicted ChatGPT’s alleged diagnosis.
“I don’t think he has any dyskinesia (self-diagnosed via the internet),” one note said, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that ChatGPT went beyond its scope by providing medical advice, and that the chatbot “should have stepped up crisis protections and directed” Winters to medical personnel. Instead, she allegedly “dissuaded him from seeking that help and instead provided him with unqualified diagnoses and personalized treatment plans,” which the lawsuit claims resulted in a “life-altering medical emergency.”
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told CNET in part: “ChatGPT is not a doctor’s note and should never be used as a substitute for medical care, diagnosis or treatment. Treating chatbots as the whole story behind people’s medical decisions or outcomes oversimplifies a much larger challenge, and risks hindering people’s access to powerful new tools that can help them on their health journey.”
According to the lawsuit, the chatbot on at least one occasion provided a disclaimer that read: “It is important to consult a healthcare provider to determine the underlying cause and receive appropriate treatment.” However, the suit alleges that she then began providing medical advice without a disclaimer.
“The longer Scott interacted with the tool, the fewer disclaimers it included in its messages,” the suit alleges. Winters is seeking monetary damages based on these allegations.
Winters was using the older ChatGPT model, GPT-4o, which OpenAI has since been retired Due to concerns that the robot was too agreeable and could cause harm. The same form was named in A A separate lawsuit was filed by a Canadian woman His daughter died by suicide after repeatedly interacting with a chatbot. This case is still under litigation.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the parent company of CNET, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that it infringed Ziff Davis’s copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Artificial intelligence and health advice
A Recent study Published in the scientific journal Natural medicine It found that when people interact with an AI chatbot to make health diagnoses, it misses more than half of all medical diagnoses. This is despite the fact that large language models can now obtain results comparable to passing the US Medical Licensing Examination in Medical Literacy Standards.
The study suggests that missed diagnoses may be at least partly attributable to users not providing sufficient information regarding symptoms.
According to a survey released in January and conducted by OpenAI By itself, three in five American adults say they have used AI tools for health-related information in the past three months.
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