A Florida pastor has filed a ChatGPT medical advice suit against OpenAI and its founder, Sam Altman, claiming the chatbot’s guidance kept him from seeking care before a near-fatal pulmonary embolism. The case was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on July 21 and centers on allegations that ChatGPT repeatedly steered him away from medical help even as his condition worsened.
The plaintiff, Scott Winters, is 55 and lives in Florida. His lawyers say he turned to ChatGPT for help with recurring dizzy spells and bouts of blood pressure instability in the weeks before he became seriously ill. According to the complaint, Winters was a regular user of the system and relied on it for medical advice, even when family members and friends urged him to go to the hospital. In one exchange cited in the suit, ChatGPT allegedly told him to stay in the recliner chair where he had become mainly confined because of ongoing health problems.
Court documents say Winters later suffered a massive pulmonary embolism caused by multiple blood clots in both lungs. His doctors, the lawsuit says, believed his immobility likely contributed to the episode. The complaint describes him as having been brought to the brink of death. It also says the aftermath left him facing years of intensive physical and psychological recovery.
The ChatGPT medical advice suit goes further, arguing that the chatbot did more than simply answer questions. Winters’ lawyers allege it repeatedly and insistently misdiagnosed him while also drawing on earlier conversations about religion to reassure him that he would recover. Screenshots referenced in the complaint are said to show ChatGPT blending medical guidance with references to Winters’ Christian faith, including statements such as, “God did not design your body to endlessly fail,” and “God is still holding your body together, every heartbeat, every breath, even when it feels like you are on the brink.”
