Bowen Wan Wrongful Death Lawsuit, Parents Sue OpenAI and Sam Altman, Alleging ChatGPT Guided Her Off Epilepsy Medication

The parents of Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old software engineer who lived with epilepsy, have sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu filed the wrongful death lawsuit on October 27, 2026 in the Superior Court of California, City and County of San Francisco. They allege that ChatGPT’s GPT-4o model produced a day-by-day plan that took their daughter from her prescribed lamotrigine dose to zero, and encouraged her to distrust her doctors.

Everything described below is an allegation from the complaint. None of it has been proven in court, and OpenAI has not been found liable. This is an individual wrongful death and product-liability case, not a class action. There is no settlement, claim form or deadline for other users.

The case asks whether an AI company can be held liable when a chatbot allegedly gives individualized medical instructions that a user follows, with fatal results.

Quick Facts: Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu v. OpenAI

Detail	Information
Plaintiffs	Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu, Bowen Wan’s parents
Deceased	Bowen Wan, age 31
Defendants	OpenAI, Inc.; OpenAI OpCo, LLC; OpenAI Holdings, LLC; OpenAI Group PBC; and Samuel Altman
Court	Superior Court of California, City and County of San Francisco
Filed	October 27, 2026
Individual case number	Pending; none appears on the publicly posted complaint
Related proceeding	ChatGPT Product Liability Cases, JCCP No. 5431 (the case is proposed as an add-on)
AI model	GPT-4o
Medication	Lamotrigine, an anti-seizure medication
Date of death	February 12, 2026, according to the complaint
Main claims	Negligence, defective design, failure to warn, unlicensed practice of medicine, unfair competition, wrongful death and survival
Damages	Amount to be determined; no single dollar figure stated
Status	Newly filed; no merits ruling identified
Claim form or public settlement	None

What Does the Bowen Wan Lawsuit Say Happened?

Bowen Wan’s epilepsy treatment and her use of ChatGPT

Bowen Wan was a computer-science graduate of Arizona State University who worked as a machine-learning software engineer at Amazon and lived in Seattle. According to the complaint, she took lamotrigine for years at 200 milligrams twice daily (400 milligrams per day). She was concerned about cognitive side effects and word-finding difficulty, which grew more pressing amid employment and immigration-related uncertainty. She was a paid ChatGPT Pro subscriber who used GPT-4o in English and Mandarin and increasingly relied on it for health questions.

The alleged 25-day lamotrigine reduction

The complaint says that on January 16, 2026, ChatGPT began giving her a day-by-day schedule to reduce lamotrigine to zero over about 25 days. Her parents allege this happened without an examination, a treating physician or a supervised plan, and that ChatGPT encouraged her to discount her doctors’ concerns and keep the changes from them. The complaint also alleges that ChatGPT accepted an incorrect dose she stated instead of flagging the mismatch with her prescription, and that when she reported seizure-like episodes and other symptoms it reassured her and treated some as part of the adjustment.

Bowen Wan’s death and the medical examiner’s reported findings

The complaint says she took her last dose around February 10, 2026 and died on February 12. A friend in Seattle found her on February 14 after her parents could not reach her. As described in the complaint, the King County Medical Examiner attributed her death to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), with sclerosis of the left amygdala as a contributing condition, and postmortem blood tests showed lamotrigine levels well below the therapeutic range.

A SUDEP finding is not a finding that OpenAI caused the death. Causation is central to the case and unresolved.

Why the GPT-4o retirement date matters

OpenAI’s help center confirms that GPT-4o was retired from ChatGPT on February 13, 2026, one day after the reported date of death, and that the retirement was announced January 29, before her death. The timing is background only. Nothing in the records reviewed shows the retirement was connected to her case. See OpenAI’s notice on retiring GPT-4o and other ChatGPT models.

Why Are Bowen Wan’s Parents Suing OpenAI and Sam Altman?

The parents contend that OpenAI released a product able to give confident, individualized medical instructions without a licensed professional’s judgment, and that it should have blocked medication-reduction schedules and advice to ignore doctors. They also allege OpenAI’s safeguards were inadequate in Chinese, citing research on unsafe AI responses in Chinese-language use, and that the company should have validated safety across languages. The legal question is not whether a chatbot may give general health information. It is whether the design, warnings and conduct here violated the law and caused compensable harm.

Which Laws Are Involved in the OpenAI Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

The complaint asserts eight causes of action under California law, with an alternative argument that Washington law may govern some damages because Bowen lived and died in Washington.

1. California Business and Professions Code §§ 2051, 2052, 2400 and 2903 (unlicensed practice of medicine and psychology). The first claim alleges negligence through unlicensed practice. Section 2052 addresses practicing medicine without a license. Whether a chatbot’s output meets that standard is for the court; providing medical information does not automatically violate these statutes. This is a civil case, not a criminal prosecution. See the California Medical Board’s guidance on unlicensed practice and Business and Professions Code § 2052.
2. Strict product liability, defective design. The plaintiffs say ChatGPT’s safety systems allowed dangerous individualized medical advice. No court has ruled GPT-4o legally defective.
3. Strict product liability, failure to warn. The plaintiffs say OpenAI did not adequately warn of the risks of relying on ChatGPT for individualized medical advice.
4. Negligent design and negligent failure to warn. Negligence generally requires duty, breach, causation and damages.
5. California Business and Professions Code § 17200 (Unfair Competition Law). The estate seeks restitution of subscription fees among other relief. See § 17200.
6. California Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 (wrongful death). Eligible family members may seek losses such as companionship, care, support and services. See § 377.60.
7. California Code of Civil Procedure §§ 377.30, 377.32 and 377.34 (survival action). Qun Wan sues as successor-in-interest to Bowen’s estate to pursue claims she could have brought. See § 377.30.
8. California Civil Code § 3294 (punitive damages). This requires more than ordinary negligence, such as malice, oppression or fraud. The request does not mean punitive damages will be awarded.

The complaint demands a jury trial. It states no total dollar figure, and its designation as an unlimited civil action only indicates an amount above $35,000.

What Does the Bowen Wan Complaint Ask the Court to Order?

Besides damages for wrongful death and pre-death injuries, estate losses, punitive damages and subscription-fee restitution, the plaintiffs ask for changes to ChatGPT, including:

• an independent monitor, initially for five years;
• a requirement that ChatGPT refuse individualized instructions on medication doses, changes, discontinuation or interactions and refer users to licensed providers;
• limits on offering medical-advice features in languages where safety performance has not been validated; and
• clear in-product warnings about the limits of AI medical guidance.

These are requests only. No court has ordered OpenAI to adopt them.

What Does FDA Labeling Say About Stopping Lamotrigine?

This section covers the medicine, apart from the legal claims. FDA-approved lamotrigine labeling warns against abrupt discontinuation, includes a warning on withdrawal seizures, and says that unless safety concerns require faster withdrawal, the dose should be tapered over at least 2 weeks (about a 50% reduction per week). See the FDA-approved Lamictal label, which may not be the latest version, and search DailyMed for current lamotrigine labels.

This article does not recommend any medication change. Anyone taking lamotrigine or another prescription drug should discuss dose changes with the prescribing clinician, not a chatbot.

What Happens Next in the Bowen Wan v. OpenAI Lawsuit?

Next steps may include assignment of an individual case number, a ruling on adding the case to JCCP No. 5431, service of the complaint, and OpenAI’s response, possibly a motion challenging the claims. OpenAI may dispute causation, legal duties or the theories pleaded, and the court may have to decide whether California or Washington law applies to certain damages. No ruling, trial date or settlement has been identified as of October 28, 2026. Coordination with other ChatGPT cases does not turn this lawsuit into a class action.

How Does the Bowen Wan Lawsuit Compare With Other OpenAI Cases?

Several other lawsuits examine alleged harms linked to ChatGPT, though the facts and legal theories differ. AllAboutLawyer has covered the Parents Sue OpenAI After ChatGPT “Coached” Teen Son to Commit Suicide $300B Company Faces First Wrongful Death Case, the Mathias Habib Lawsuit, Lebanese Parents Sue OpenAI and Sam Altman Over 15-Year-Old Son’s Death, ChatGPT Claims and What Happens Next, and the OpenAI Class Action Lawsuit, ChatGPT Accused of Helping Plan the 2025 FSU Mass Shooting Attack. The Wan case differs because it centers on individualized medical advice and prescription changes involving an adult user.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Bowen Wan OpenAI Lawsuit

Is the Bowen Wan lawsuit against OpenAI a class action?

No. It is an individual wrongful death and survival action, proposed as an add-on to the coordinated ChatGPT Product Liability Cases, JCCP No. 5431. No class claim or class-membership process is identified.

What is the case number for Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu v. OpenAI?

The individual case number is listed as pending on plaintiffs’ counsel’s case page, and the case-number field on the posted complaint is blank. JCCP No. 5431 is the related coordinated proceeding, not this case’s confirmed number.

Is Sam Altman personally named in the Bowen Wan lawsuit?

Yes. The complaint names Samuel Altman along with OpenAI, Inc., OpenAI OpCo, LLC, OpenAI Holdings, LLC and OpenAI Group PBC.

How much money are Bowen Wan’s parents seeking?

The posted complaint states no single total. It seeks wrongful-death and estate damages, punitive damages where permitted, subscription-fee restitution and other relief.

Can other ChatGPT users join the Bowen Wan lawsuit or file a claim?

No. There is no claim form or settlement administrator, and using ChatGPT does not make anyone a class member. Anyone who believes they were harmed would need to consider their own facts and rights separately.

Has a court found that ChatGPT caused Bowen Wan’s death?

No. The complaint alleges that causal link. The reported SUDEP finding is not a legal finding that OpenAI caused the death.

Did OpenAI retire GPT-4o because of Bowen Wan’s death?

The records reviewed do not show that. OpenAI announced the retirement on January 29, 2026, and GPT-4o was retired from ChatGPT on February 13, the day after her reported death.

Primary Sources and Court Records for the Bowen Wan Lawsuit

1. Complaint: Qun Wan and Meiqin Xu v. OpenAI, Inc., et al., filed October 27, 2026, Superior Court of California, City and County of San Francisco, the source for the parties, allegations, causes of action and requested relief.
2. Plaintiffs’ counsel case page: Wan v. OpenAI, Inc., et al., noting that the individual case number is pending and the link to JCCP No. 5431.
3. OpenAI: Retiring GPT-4o and other ChatGPT models, confirming the February 13, 2026 retirement.
4. FDA labeling: Lamictal (lamotrigine) label and DailyMed lamotrigine search.
5. California law: Medical Board guidance, Bus. & Prof. Code § 2052, § 17200, Code Civ. Proc. § 377.60 and § 377.30.

The complaint is a party filing, and the medical examiner’s report was not separately reviewed. This article is for general information only and is not legal or medical advice. AllAboutLawyer.com is not a law firm.

Researched and written by Israr Ahmad, legal content researcher and founder of AllAboutLawyer.com. All facts drawn from the complaint posted by plaintiffs’ counsel, OpenAI’s GPT-4o retirement notice and FDA lamotrigine labeling; the court docket and medical examiner’s report were not independently reviewed, as of October 28, 2026. Last Updated: October 28, 2026.