In what could be viewed as a timely warning for health professionals about where patients are finding health advice, United States doctors have reported the case of a 60-year-old man, hospitalised after following the advice of ChatGPT.1
After reading about negative health effects of sodium chloride (table salt), the man decided to eliminate chloride from his diet.
ChatGPT told him that chloride could be swapped with bromide, “though likely for other purposes, such as cleaning”, the published case report noted.
After three months, he ended up in the emergency department, convinced his neighbour was poisoning him. He became increasingly paranoid and experienced auditory and visual hallucinations and was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
as the use of AI tools increases, health care providers will need to consider this when screening for where their patients are consuming health information
Investigations revealed bromism. Bromism is far less common today than it was in the early 20th century, when bromide salts were found in many over-the-counter medications, the researchers said. With treatment the man recovered.
While the man’s original ChatGPT query wasn’t available, a query about replacing chloride suggested bromide, the case study authors said.
“Though the reply stated that context matters, it did not provide a specific health warning, nor did it inquire about why we wanted to know, as we presume a medical professional would do,” they wrote.
The case study authors noted that it is “important to consider that ChatGPT and other AI systems can generate scientific inaccuracies, lack the ability to critically discuss results, and ultimately fuel the spread of misinformation”.
They said as the use of AI tools increases, health care providers will need to consider this when screening for where their patients are consuming health information.
Reference
- Eichenberger A, Thielke S, Van Buskirk A. A case of bromism influenced by use of artificial intelligence. AIM Clinical Cases. 2025;4:e241260. [Epub 5 August 2025]. doi: 10.7326/aimcc.2024.1260.
