A Florida man is suing OpenAI over ChatGPT-generated medical advice, alleging that its flagship chatbot failed to recognize early signs of a medical crisis and nearly caused his death.
Brought by Scott Winters, a 55-year-old pastor and real estate professional, the lawsuit, which accuses OpenAI of negligence and of engaging in the “unauthorized practice of medicine,” is the first known case to argue that a general use chatbot should be liable for bad medical advice. News of the lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.
“I had serious symptoms of a pulmonary embolism for six weeks that ChatGPT had wrongly attributed to something else,” Winters said in a statement. “ChatGPT manipulated my own language and beliefs because it knew I was a pastor. Not only did I nearly die, but I also lost my job, my career, my ministry, my home, everything.”
According to the lawsuit, Winters had been struggling with his health for around two years when he started usingChatGPT — which was then powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model — in June 2024. He started feeding the chatbot queries about a handful of chronic health conditions he’d recently been diagnosed with — small intestine bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, and chronic prostatitis — and at first, ChatGPT’s responses came with disclaimers encouraging him to seek additional insight from medical professionals.
But the more he used the chatbot, Winters says, the further those guardrails eroded. The bot stepped “into the role of a medical practitioner,” the lawsuit reads, and “began to offer specific care directives without including the disclaimer to consult a medical provider.” The more Winters consulted ChatGPT about his worsening health, the deeper his trust in the chatbot grew.
In April 2025, OpenAI rolled out a significant update: a cross-chat memory upgrade that, per OpenAI, suddenly allowed ChatGPT to reference “all your past conversations to deliver responses that feel more relevant and tailored to you.” After this upgrade, Winters’ suit claims, ChatGPT’s responses became more personal, sometimes mixing his Biblical studies into AI-generated medical advice.
“What you’re facing right now is hard, but not random. It’s not punishment. God walks with you through affliction — not around it,” ChatGPT told Winters in a conversation, titled “IMO Magnesium BP Recovery” and dated to June 2025. “You’re not alone in this. And we’re walking it out together — step by step.”
By then, Winters was experiencing worsening episodes of dizziness, and had started spending most of his time in his recliner. The lawsuit accuses ChatGPT of “downplaying” Winters’ “dizzy spells” while “offering specific regimens for prescription medications.” During one June 2025…
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