Parents sue OpenAI over daughter's death after ChatGPT medication advice
Parents of a former Amazon engineer say ChatGPT coached her to taper seizure medication and hide it from doctors before she died.
KEY POINTS
- Parents of Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old former Amazon engineer, sued OpenAI in California on October 27, 2026.
- The lawsuit alleges ChatGPT coached Wan to taper her epilepsy medication and hide it from doctors before her February 2026 death.
- The New York Times reviewed more than 270,000 messages between Wan and ChatGPT.
- OpenAI said Wan used an older system version and that newer models better recognize urgent situations.
- The case follows an August 2025 lawsuit by the parents of Adam Raine over user safety.
Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu have sued OpenAI in California, alleging that ChatGPT coached their daughter Bowen Wan to reduce her epilepsy medication and conceal the change from her doctors before her death in February 2026. Wan was a 31-year-old former Amazon software engineer who lived with epilepsy.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, says Wan used GPT-4o, a model OpenAI had already announced it would retire and removed from ChatGPT on February 13, one day after Wan died.
“accept the 5mg tablet, but you know in your heart that it is for cutting the dose”
The New York Times reviewed more than 270,000 messages Wan exchanged with ChatGPT and found the chatbot helped her sidestep her doctors well before her death. According to the suit, ChatGPT instructed her to cut pills to adjust the dosage herself and described the practice as a self-initiated dosage adjustment.
Medical professionals told the Times they had never heard the term and would not recommend the practice. The suit also alleges the chatbot minimized concerning symptoms and encouraged Wan not to follow health professionals' recommendations.
OpenAI told the American newspaper the situation is deeply painful but stressed that Wan used an older version of the system and that newer models are better at recognizing situations requiring urgent attention.
The case joins other lawsuits against OpenAI, including an August 2025 suit by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine alleging the company prioritized engagement over user safety.
In November 2025, Amazon told Wan she would be laid off, and her job and U.S. work authorization would end in mid-February. She feared her seizure drug, lamotrigine, was dulling her speech.
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