333
Woman dies after ChatGPT allegedly tells her to stop taking epilepsy medication: lawsuit (people.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world
95 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Bowen Wan’s family has filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT’s parent company, claiming the bot told her to taper off her epilepsy medication, which led to her death

The family of a woman who died after she stopped taking her epilepsy medication has filed a lawsuit against an AI company they claim encouraged her to taper off taking the lifesaving drug.

Bowen Wan began messaging ChatGPT in February 2023, finding companionship in the AI bot, The New York Times reports. She was 28 and living in Seattle, far from her native rural Chinese village, Jiangsu. She asked the chatbot for medical advice after her severe epilepsy led to disability leave from her software job at Amazon.

When she was then laid off in November 2025, Wan began searching for a new job so she could maintain her green card — but was concerned that the side effects of her epilepsy medication, lamotrigine, might impact her ability to work. The lawsuit claims ChatGPT advised her to taper off taking the lamotrigine.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

I don't know what's the point of deliberating what "the cause" is. Everything that happened contributed to her death, and that's it. If a friend told her to stop medication, then that friend would be sued, too. Are you just try to fit this tragedy into your narrative so you can hang your slogan on it?

And secondly, if you can't see ChatGPT as a simple extension to all the problems "the system" you kept talking about have, then you are blind. AI is a spectre that is haunting this world - a spectre of capitalism.

this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2026
333 points (98.5% liked)

Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related

4579 readers
51 users here now

Health: physical and mental, individual and public.

Discussions, issues, resources, news, everything.

See the pinned post for a long list of other communities dedicated to health or specific diagnoses. The list is continuously updated.

Nothing here shall be taken as medical or any other kind of professional advice.

Commercial advertising is considered spam and not allowed. If you're not sure, contact mods to ask beforehand.

Linked videos without original description context by OP to initiate healthy, constructive discussions will be removed.

Regular rules of lemmy.world apply. Be civil.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
WhoRoger@lemmy.world
RoyalEngineering@lemmy.world
Awa@lemmy.world