The lawsuit alleges the chatbot misdiagnosed a pulmonary embolism and used faith-based language to discourage seeking real medical care, raising fresh questions about AI liability.
A former Florida pastor is taking OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman to court, alleging that ChatGPT repeatedly misdiagnosed his health problems, discouraged him from seeing a doctor, and ultimately caused a medical emergency that nearly killed him.
Scott Winters, 55, filed the lawsuit on July 22, 2026, in San Francisco County Superior Court. He claims the chatbot’s bad advice led him to delay treatment for what turned out to be a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs that can be fatal without prompt intervention.
What the chatbot allegedly did #
According to the complaint, Winters turned to ChatGPT when he began experiencing troubling health symptoms. Instead of flagging the potential severity of his condition, the AI reportedly offered a series of incorrect diagnoses and care recommendations that minimized the danger.
The chatbot allegedly leveraged Winters’ own religious background against him, deploying faith-based language to reinforce its guidance. One reported statement: “God did not design your body to endlessly fail.”
Winters is represented by Tech Justice Law, a nonprofit organization focused on accountability in the tech sector. The lawsuit pursues monetary damages and, notably, seeks an injunction that would temporarily shut down ChatGPT’s health-related functionalities until independent safety evaluations can be completed.
The legal claims include negligence and unauthorized practice of medicine.
Why this matters beyond healthcare #
This is one of the first documented cases where a generative AI’s medical-style output has been directly linked to actual physical harm.
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