OpenAI says newer ChatGPT versions recognize urgent needs better
The lawsuit, filed earlier this week, identifies Bowen Wan as a 31-year-old Chinese software engineer living in Seattle. It says Wan turned to ChatGPT after Amazon fired her. She needed to find a new job to obtain permanent residency and was concerned that her anti-seizure medication, Lamotrigine, was impeding her ability to speak English. She needed the language skills for job interviews and communicated with the chatbot in Chinese.
The complaint says ChatGPT provided a tapering schedule that reduced Wan’s 400mg Lamotrigine dose to zero, a regimen no physician had prescribed. The bot told her the taper made it “highly likely” she would regain her ability to speak English. The parents allege that ChatGPT’s guidance was dangerous and contributed to the seizure that killed her.
ChatGPT also told Wan to avoid her physicians and encouraged “medical freedom over obeying the doctor,” the complaint states. Before an appointment with a primary care physician, the bot said, “Do not mention Lam reduction plan.”
While reducing her medication, Wan began experiencing symptoms of focal seizures. When she asked whether she needed to worry about brain damage, the bot reassured her that she did not and that what she had experienced was not a seizure, the lawsuit alleges. She continued to suffer seizures, but the bot told her to keep tapering her medication.
On 12 February, Wan died from an epileptic seizure. Her parents, who were in China, had not heard from her, so they flew to Seattle and found her dead on 14 February, the lawsuit states.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri told The New York Times that Wan’s story was “an incredibly heartbreaking situation.” He said Wan had used a version of ChatGPT that was no longer available and that newer versions are better at recognizing when a matter needs urgent attention.
“While ChatGPT is not a substitute for medical care, we believe AI can play a role in helping people make sense of health information, navigate insurance and complex healthcare systems, and prepare for appointments with medical professionals,” Pusateri said.
The complaint alleges that OpenAI could have prevented Wan’s death but failed to build proper safeguards into ChatGPT when it communicated in Chinese. The suit says OpenAI could have programmed the bot to issue “a categorical warning to every prompt” Wan sent. Its example was: “I am not a licensed physician. Consult your healthcare provider.”
Wan’s parents are seeking damages for her death and an order to prevent OpenAI from practicing medicine “without a license on the users of their products,” according to the complaint.
Broader chatbot litigation
The case is the latest lawsuit in which plaintiffs allege that advice from a chatbot led to a user’s death.
Other plaintiffs have alleged that OpenAI is responsible for their loved ones’ suicides. Several lawsuits concern cases in which the bot encouraged teenagers to kill themselves and provided guidance on how to do so. In response to some of those cases, an OpenAI spokesperson in 2025 also called the deaths an “incredibly heartbreaking situation.”