A former Florida pastor who nearly died from a pulmonary embolism sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, on Wednesday, alleging that ChatGPT repeatedly discouraged him from seeking medical care.
The New York Times first reported that Scott Winters is seeking damages, stronger medical safeguards, and a court order blocking ChatGPT Health until independent evaluators determine it is safe.
The complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, accuses OpenAI and Altman of negligence and the unauthorized practice of medicine. Winters alleges that months of conversations with GPT-4o caused him to delay treatment until he was admitted to intensive care with a massive blood clot in his lungs in July 2025.
The case challenges a central defense used across the consumer-AI industry: that chatbots are informational tools, not substitutes for medical professionals.
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