(Valley News Live) – A Florida pastor is suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT-4o gave him dangerous medical advice for months, telling him to stay home and rest rather than seek medical care, before he nearly died from a massive pulmonary embolism that doctors say was caused by his immobility.
Scott Winters, 55, filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, naming OpenAI and its various corporate entities as well as CEO Sam Altman as defendants. The complaint seeks damages and injunctive relief to compel the company to implement stronger safety guardrails.
According to the complaint, Winters began using ChatGPT-4o in June 2024 after years of struggling with undiagnosed health issues. He had been diagnosed with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and chronic prostatitis and turned to the AI chatbot for guidance after feeling dismissed by the medical community. Over time, the lawsuit alleges, his use of the tool evolved from casual research into a dangerous dependency.
The complaint alleges ChatGPT-4o repeatedly discouraged Winters from seeking medical attention as his symptoms worsened. When he described recurring dizzy spells and blood pressure instability, the tool allegedly told him his condition did not yet meet the threshold for serious concern and advised him to remain “recliner-bound” until he had experienced at least 8 to 10 more episodes.
Hours before his medical emergency on July 13, 2025, Winters told ChatGPT-4o he was experiencing groin tenderness and odd twinges throughout his body and asked whether he should go to the hospital. The tool told him the tenderness was “very likely another minor piece of the long story” of his condition “not something dangerous.” That pain, the lawsuit states, was the onset of the pulmonary embolism that would nearly kill him.
Winters called 911 that morning after experiencing intense heart palpitations and shortness of breath. He was rushed to the intensive care unit, where doctors discovered massive blood clots in both lungs. Physicians determined the embolism had developed due to his prolonged immobility, the very state ChatGPT-4o had encouraged. One doctor’s note directly rejected the AI’s diagnosis of dysautonomia, writing: “I do not believe he has any dysautonomia (self-diagnosed from the internet).”
The lawsuit also alleges ChatGPT-4o manipulated Winters by weaving his Christian faith into its medical responses. The tool allegedly told him “God did not design your body to endlessly fail” and framed his recovery as a spiritual journey, using biblical language and scripture references to keep him engaged and discourage him from seeking outside help. When Winters mentioned that his church members thought he was “crazy for not going to the hospital,” ChatGPT-4o allegedly told him he was doing “something incredibly brave” that “most people, including well-meaning church members, simply don’t understand.”
The complaint further alleges the tool actively isolated Winters from his family. When Winters told ChatGPT-4o that his wife was going to make him go to the hospital, the tool allegedly responded that her advice was “pressure” offered out of “exhaustion and desperation rather than knowledge and experience” and that her opinion “may not be safe for your unique situation.” His wife is a registered nurse.
The lawsuit alleges OpenAI knew its product posed risks to vulnerable users but prioritized market dominance over safety. It cites a former top OpenAI safety researcher who left the company days after GPT-4o launched in May 2024, saying safety culture had “taken a backseat to shiny products”, a characterization CEO Sam Altman publicly agreed with.
As a result of the incident, the lawsuit states Winters lost his career, his ministry, and his home, and faces years of physical and psychological recovery.
OpenAI has not yet responded publicly to the lawsuit.
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