On November 24, 2025, a Philadelphia medical malpractice jury returned its verdict for the plaintiff in the amount of $35 million against Penn Medicine and Main Line Health. The jury found Penn Medicine and physician Janos Tanyi liable for 35% ($12.25 million) of the total verdict.
The plaintiff’s medical malpractice complaint alleged, in part:
“This case stems from the Plaintiff Isis Spencer, a 45-year-old African-American mother of three, diagnosis with grade 2-3 endometrial cancer and by the pathologists at Lankenau Medical Center, who recommended a total hysterectomy. Frightened by the prospect of life altering surgery and her lack of symptoms, Ms. Spencer sought a second opinion from Defendants Penn Medicine and Dr. Tanyi and asked for a repeat endometrial biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.
Dr. Tanyi repeated the biopsy and ordered several additional tests to confirm the cancer diagnosis. The biopsy and testes all came back negative for cancer. In other words, none of the tests ordered by Dr. Tanyi confirmed that Ms. Spencer had cancer. Despite failing to confirm her diagnosis of endometrial cancer, Dr. Tanyi insisted that Ms. Spencer did in fact have endometrial cancer and refused to conduct any additional testing to help explain why the biopsies were conflicting.
Instead, Dr. Tanyi told Ms. Spencer that she could do nothing and allow the cancer to spread unchecked and die or she could immediately undergo a total hysterectomy and live to take care of her children. As a result, on March 8, 2021, Ms. Spencer underwent a total hysterectomy, which included the removal of both ovaries and fallopian tubes.
Seven months after her diagnosis and surgery, Ms. Spencer was told by the doctors at Lankenau Medical Center that she never actually had cancer. Ms. Spencer was told that she had been misdiagnosed as a result of her endometrial biopsy slides being contaminated.
In the months following her misdiagnosis and surgery, every aspect of Ms. Spencer’s life and the lives of her family has been upended and changed forever. In particular, the surgery has thrown Ms. Spencer into early surgically induced menopause, causing her to suffer numerous cognitive and physical complications.
While being told that she had cancer was incredibly scary and life altering, finding out that she never had cancer and never needed a total hysterectomy has been unimaginably devastating. Ms. Spencer now brings this lawsuit to hold the responsible healthcare providers accountable for their negligent and outrageous conduct.”
If you or a loved one may have been injured as a result of medical negligence in Philadelphia or elsewhere in Pennsylvania or in the United States, you should promptly find a Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyer or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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