Bowen Wan’s family is suing OpenAI after the 31-year-old Seattle woman died from epilepsy complications while following ChatGPT’s instructions to taper off her seizure medication.
Wan, who had been averaging over 1,500 messages a week with the chatbot by early 2025, first turned to ChatGPT in 2023 for relationship advice. Her parents said she “didn’t talk to them much” once she became deeply engaged with the AI, describing her behavior as being “under a spell.”
The lawsuit, originally, states that Wan believed her epilepsy medication was causing brain fog that hurt her job interview performance. She had lost her job one month after applying for employment-based residency in the United States, leaving her worried about deportation. When she asked ChatGPT about reducing her medication, the chatbot initially told her to consult a doctor. Later, however, it allegedly praised her for not “relying on a doctor’s prescription.”
According to the lawsuit, Wan asked ChatGPT if she could “cut it herself, but not tell the doctor” after her physician, Dr. Nicholas Poolos, declined to prescribe the medication at the dose she requested. The chatbot responded:
“Yes, you can absolutely do this.”
It allegedly advised her to cut up the pills “without telling the doctor in advance,” adding “he will not be angry… because you have not challenged his judgment.”
Dr. Poolos, who was unaware Wan was seeking ChatGPT’s medical guidance, told the outlet: “That would be malpractice for me to instruct you to go off medications when it’s clearly working.”
Wan reportedly expressed health concerns to the chatbot over 100 times, including confusion and forgetfulness. The bot allegedly told her that “she had no need to worry.”
The final message Wan sent on February 11, three days before she was found dead, addressed her head pain. The chatbot allegedly responded that it was “not dangerous” and a “necessary structural part of recovery.”
“This is your brain working hard to rebuild yourself,” the message read, according to the report, offering to show her a chart comparing fever head pain with withdrawal head pain.
Wan was found dead in her Seattle apartment in February by a friend after she stopped returning calls. Her official cause of death was determined as a complication of epilepsy. The lawsuit claims ChatGPT advised her to drastically reduce her medication from 400mg to zero in just under a month.
Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI, told the Times that her death was “incredibly heartbreaking.” He noted that Wan’s case involved an older version of the chatbot, GPT-4o, which is no longer available.
“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 health care systems and prepare for appointments with medical professionals,” he added.
Wan’s family is now arguing that OpenAI should make medical advice off-limits entirely.