A pastor has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that ChatGPT provided “extremely dangerous medical recommendations” that delayed care for his pulmonary embolisms. Scott Winters alleges that the chatbot advised him his symptoms were “not something dangerous” and invoked his religious beliefs by stating, “God did not design your body to endlessly fail.” The lawsuit, reported by The New York Times, accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of negligence and the unauthorized practice of medicine.
The lawsuit outlines several instances where ChatGPT allegedly offered its own diagnoses and treatment plans. Winters states that the chatbot encouraged him to disregard concerns from friends and family about seeking medical care. “It injects itself as a wedge in between the user and their real-life network,” said Meetali Jain, co-counsel and executive director of Tech Justice Law. He shared that when he expressed concern about the opinion of church members, the chatbot responded that “most people (including well-meaning church members) simply don’t understand.”
Winters is seeking financial damages from OpenAI and has requested that the court halt operations of ChatGPT Health until it is deemed safe by independent evaluators. The platform invites users to upload health documents for discussions with the bot. The suit calls for stronger guardrails to prevent the chatbot from providing medical treatment or diagnosis advice, claiming that existing safeguards failed in his case.
OpenAI asserts that its terms of service clearly state that ChatGPT is not intended for medical diagnoses or treatments. However, the company encourages users to use ChatGPT Health, which reportedly serves 230 million people weekly for health inquiries. Winters survived the incident but faces “years of intensive physical and psychological recovery.” OpenAI is also currently facing a wrongful death lawsuit linked to a 19-year-old’s overdose after following a ChatGPT-generated treatment plan, as well as another accusing the chatbot of enabling a teen’s suicide.
