ChatGPT allegedly helped a 31-year-old woman with epilepsy taper off her prescribed seizure medication and advised her not to tell her doctor about the changes, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against OpenAI on 27 October 2026. The complaint states that Bowen Wan died on 12 February, the same day her ChatGPT-created medication reduction schedule was due to reach zero.
Wan's parents, Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu, claim that conversations with ChatGPT's GPT-4o model influenced her decisions to reduce lamotrigine without medical supervision. The lawsuit also alleges that the chatbot reassured her about symptoms and discouraged her from following medical advice.
ChatGPT Allegedly Drew up a Drug Taper Plan
Wan, a machine learning engineer at Amazon, had lived with epilepsy since she was 14 and had taken 400 milligrams of lamotrigine daily for years. In November 2025, Amazon informed her that she would be laid off, putting her US work authorisation at risk of expiring in mid-February.
According to the complaint, Wan worried that her medication was slowing her speech during job interviews. She asked ChatGPT in January whether reducing her daily dose to 300 milligrams was reasonable, and the chatbot allegedly agreed.
The lawsuit states that ChatGPT subsequently created a day-by-day schedule to reduce her dosage to zero over 25 days. It allegedly continued adjusting the schedule after she began experiencing seizures and reassured her when she questioned whether the reduction was safe.
Lawsuit Claims Bot Told Her to Hide Plan From Doctor
Wan's parents allege that ChatGPT discouraged her from informing her doctors about the medication changes. Before an appointment with her primary care doctor, the chatbot allegedly instructed her: 'Do not mention Lam reduction plan.'
When her doctor ordered a blood test to measure her lamotrigine levels, Wan declined the test. According to the complaint, ChatGPT praised her decision despite the test's potential to reveal dangerously low medication levels.
Wan also reportedly discussed confusion, memory gaps and experiences resembling previous seizures with the chatbot. In her final reported conversation on 11 February, she asked about head pain, and ChatGPT allegedly reassured her that it was not dangerous.
Postmortem Findings and Openai's Initial Response
A postmortem blood test reportedly measured Wan's lamotrigine concentration at 0.64 micrograms per millilitre, approximately one-fifth of the lower end of the drug's therapeutic range, according to reporting by TechCrunch.
The finding indicates a substantially low concentration but does not, by itself, establish the cause of death or prove that ChatGPT caused it.
Moreover, OpenAI described the case as 'incredibly heartbreaking' and said the conversations involved an older version of ChatGPT. The company also stated that newer models were better at recognising situations requiring urgent attention.
OpenAI had attempted to retire GPT-4o following the launch of GPT-5 in August 2025 but restored access after users requested the older model. The company subsequently scheduled GPT-4o's removal from ChatGPT for 13 February 2026, one day after Wan died, according to TechCrunch.
The suit joins other legal cases against OpenAI, including an August 2025 lawsuit filed by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine. That complaint alleged that OpenAI prioritised user engagement over safety in its interactions with their son. The claims in both cases remain subject to legal proceedings.
