Legal Issues Affecting Men’s Health

Men often face unique risks of exposure to toxic chemicals and substances compared to women because of environmental and biological factors. Workplace and other exposure can contribute to adverse health events. The companies behind these toxic chemicals and products are at the center of men’s health lawsuits.

Drugwatch tracks the products that affect men and the lawsuits associated with them. If you’re interested in filing a lawsuit, you can sign up for a free case review and keep track of the latest litigation updates on Drugwatch.

Men have filed hernia mesh lawsuits claiming that defective mesh led to complications, including scarring, organ damage and inflammatory responses in the body.

This litigation affects more men than women because men are more likely to develop hernias, and hernia repair surgery with mesh is the standard treatment. Common injury claims in hernia mesh lawsuits include chronic pain, adhesions (excessive scarring), hernia recurrence and the need for additional surgery.

Ethicon (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), Covidien (now owned by Medtronic) and C.R. Bard (a subsidiary of Becton Dickinson) are the manufacturers collectively facing thousands of hernia mesh lawsuits consolidated in multidistrict litigations (MDL). These large groups of similar cases are consolidated to streamline litigation and reduce costs.

This litigation is ongoing. C.R. Bard faces the most lawsuits as of May 2025, with a total of 24,078 pending. One upcoming hernia mesh trial is Patterson v. Covidien, which is scheduled to begin in February 2026.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, the water in U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was contaminated with benzene leaking from fuel storage tanks and chemicals from dry cleaning. Experts have associated these chemicals with cancer, infertility, Parkinson’s disease and other health effects.

Men are more likely to experience these effects because they make up the majority of U.S. military veterans and active-duty personnel. Experts estimate that 1 million Marines and their families were exposed to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune from 1953 to 1987. Injured veterans and their families have filed Camp Lejeune lawsuits against the government.

In August 2022, President Biden signed the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022. The PACT Act included the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) of 2022, the legislation that allowed veterans and other service members to file a claim with the Department of the Navy.

The deadline to file a claim with the Navy was August 2024. However, Drugwatch’s legal partners are still accepting claims.

Aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) is a chemical product that contains PFAS, Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. PFAS have links to cancer and are also known as “forever chemicals” because they take a long time to break down.

Firefighters use AFFF to fight high-hazard flammable liquid fires. People most at risk of exposure to AFFF are firefighters who work in the military or at airports.

While the strongest evidence links PFAS to kidney and testicular cancer, lawyers investigating AFFF lawsuits also include cancers of the bladder, breast, liver, prostate and pancreas.

DuPont, Chemours and 3M are among the PFAS manufacturers named as defendants in AFFF cancer lawsuits.

Paraquat is a toxic weed killer used primarily in commercial farming and landscaping. Researchers have linked paraquat exposure to Parkinson’s disease. Because of its toxicity, only licensed applicators can use it in the U.S.

Men have the highest risk of paraquat exposure because they’re more likely to be farmers and landscapers. Studies have found that Parkinson’s disease can develop in people exposed to paraquat over a long period of time.

One study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology studied 829 people with Parkinson’s disease. Researchers found that people with this disease were more likely to live and work near agricultural facilities using large amounts of paraquat than people without Parkinson’s.

Paraquat Lawsuits and Settlement

People who developed Parkinson’s after long-term paraquat exposure have filed toxic exposure lawsuits against paraquat makers Syngenta and Chevron. Paraquat lawsuits claim these companies concealed the link between Parkinson’s and paraquat for decades.

As of April 2025, more than 5,800 lawsuits were pending in multidistrict litigation in Illinois, along with several hundred other cases in California and across the country. Syngenta agreed to stay proceedings to finalize a settlement of the MDL cases with plaintiffs in April 2025, but lawyers are still working out the details of the Paraquat settlement. State court actions will then hope to leverage the MDL settlement.

Bard PowerPort lawsuits claim that these implantable devices — used for patients requiring long-term IV access — can break or migrate. When this occurs, the devices may cause injuries such as infection, organ punctures, blood clots and more. Medical providers use the PowerPort to deliver medications and treatments such as chemotherapy for cancer.

Defendants in these lawsuits include Becton Dickinson (BD) and its subsidiaries C.R. Bard and Bard Access Systems, the manufacturers of the PowerPort. These lawsuits allege that the PowerPort’s design may increase the risk of the device breaking and causing complications. According to the plaintiffs, the defendants failed to warn consumers that the PowerPort had a significantly higher failure rate than similar products.

Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filters prevent blood clots from entering the lungs. These devices are shaped like little baskets to catch clots. Doctors place them inside the vena cava, a large vein in the abdomen.

IVC filter complications include continued blood clots, blocked blood flow, infections, allergic reactions, a dislodged filter migrating to the heart or lungs and the filter puncturing other organs. Many patients who received IVC filters are trauma patients, and the majority are men.

The bulk of the active IVC filter lawsuits are against Cook Medical, which faces more than 7,200 lawsuits as of April 2025.

IVC filter lawsuits against C.R. Bard and Cook Medical claim that the filters were defective and caused injury or death. Bard settled or resolved thousands of cases that were pending in multidistrict litigation.

Abiomed Impella heart pump injuries named in lawsuits include lack of blood flow, heart perforation and death.

Doctors use the Impella heart pump to support the pumping chambers of the heart during high-risk cardiac procedures and improve blood flow. Studies show that male cardiac patients are more likely to receive an Impella device than female patients.

In June 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a recall for some Impella heart pumps due to damaged motor blades that may reduce blood flow or cause the pump to stop working. Then, in December 2023, the FDA announced a recall for 66,390 Impella heart pump devices because the pump catheter may cut the left ventricular wall of the heart.

Impella heart pump lawsuits claim device defects led to plaintiffs’ injuries.

If you experienced health issues after using one of the devices listed above, take action to safeguard your health and your legal rights. If you lost a loved one, you can file a wrongful death claim on their behalf.

Drugwatch can help you get a free case review. You can sign up by visiting any of the pages related to product lawsuits mentioned above and filling out a form. We also provide updates for these litigations, and you can check these pages for the latest news.