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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.

    • echo@lemmy.todayEnglish
      231·
      2 days ago

      When did the ability for people in China and the U.S. to communicate come into effect?

      • velma@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        31·
        2 days ago

        How would they have known at the time she was seeking medical advice like this unless she told them?

        You’re making a lot of assumptions in order to smear a dead woman.

        • echo@lemmy.todayEnglish
          229·
          2 days ago

          Well… they figured out she was dead somehow… I’m assuming they could have also found out she was alive and how she was doing. In any case, this tragedy has nothing to do with technology. Blame the US health system. Blame ignorance.

          • velma@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            25·
            2 days ago

            After not hearing from their daughter for two days, the Wans asked a friend living in Seattle to check up on her. Over a video call, on February 14, 2026, they discovered their daughter was dead. The lawsuit describes the scene: “She lies dressed in her pajamas, two foam earplugs in her ears, reddish brown blood stains saturating her pillow and bedding, and pills of lamotrigine, the antiseizure medication that had historically kept her alive, strewn across the floor.”

            Try reading the article before spouting off in the comments next time.

            • echo@lemmy.todayEnglish
              231·
              2 days ago

              Ah - so, in fact, they could have been in contact with her sooner and possibly saved her life. Sucks to be them. Still not the internet’s fault.

              • pticrix@lemmy.caEnglish
                101·
                2 days ago

                I’m sorry your family has left you in the dust. However, your condition is not everyone’s, so you should get down from your high horse, friend, lest you become a morality cop - no one like those.

                  • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                    31·
                    1 day ago

                    Lol the irony in this comment.

                    Calls someone stupid, then immediately follows that up with a nonsensical, one-word sentence fragment. The true mark of intelligence.

                  • pticrix@lemmy.caEnglish
                    61·
                    2 days ago

                    Nothing to be even about here. We do not form any kind of relationship, so where would the unbalance be?