diff --git a/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py b/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py
index 13412ef96a..d240ab4b32 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py
@@ -426,6 +426,13 @@ class OpenAIChatCompletion(BaseLLM, BaseOpenAILLM):
             else:
                 headers = {}
             response = raw_response.parse()
+
+            if isinstance(response, str):
+                raise OpenAIError(
+                    status_code=422,
+                    message="Could not parse response",
+                )
+
             return headers, response
         except openai.APITimeoutError as e:
             end_time = time.time()
@@ -459,6 +466,13 @@ class OpenAIChatCompletion(BaseLLM, BaseOpenAILLM):
             else:
                 headers = {}
             response = raw_response.parse()
+
+            if isinstance(response, str):
+                raise OpenAIError(
+                    status_code=422,
+                    message="Could not parse response",
+                )
+
             return headers, response
         except Exception as e:
             if raw_response is not None: