A Life of Pain and a Fight for Justice
Phil Dressel spends his days in constant pain. The lesions on his hands sting relentlessly, and the wound on his forehead continues to ache where surgeons had to remove infected bone after cancer ate through his skin, muscle, and part of his skull. His leg, which was amputated at the hip to save his life, still torments him daily. He says the missing limb feels as though it is still there. “My foot was hurting so bad – literally, on fire,” he said. Even now, he claims, it still burns.
The 69-year-old former Florida landscaper is currently fighting what may be his final battle—not only against stage IV lymphoma, but also against the company behind the weedkiller he believes poisoned him. Next week, Dressel’s case against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, will be heard in a Florida courtroom. His lawyers will ask a judge to fast-track his claim and set a trial date within a year because his health is deteriorating rapidly.
Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, has consistently denied allegations that Roundup causes cancer. The company maintains that extensive studies and regulatory reviews support the product’s safety when used as directed. It has also contested legal claims that state law required stronger cancer warnings on the product.
The upcoming hearing is not the trial itself, but for Dressel, it could determine whether he gets the chance to face a jury at all. For Bayer, the stakes go far beyond one gravely ill man. A substantial verdict for Dressel could encourage other claimants to reject standardized settlement offers and seek larger payouts, adding more pressure to the company in one of America’s most significant product-liability battles.
Dressel worked as a landscaper in Fort Lauderdale for over 20 years, regularly using Roundup due to its reputation for quickly and effectively killing weeds. He never imagined the product could harm him. “When you say something is safe, it’s safe. So I didn’t think anything of it. It said safe, so okay, cool,” he told the Daily Mail.
However, in 2023, he noticed intense itching on his hands. Soon, the irritation developed into open sores that spread to his back, feet, and eventually his face. Trips to dermatologists brought creams, dressings, and temporary relief—but no answers. Eventually, doctors raised the possibility of Mycosis Fungoides, a rare form of lymphoma that often first appears as red, scaly patches and can be mistaken for eczema or psoriasis. Tests later confirmed the diagnosis. By then, Dressel says, the cancer had already entered his bloodstream.
An oncologist began chemotherapy, which he claims pushed the disease out of his blood, but not out of his body. The cancer remained in his skin. Then came a series of brutal complications. Lesions on his left leg turned septic, forcing surgeons to amputate at the hip to save his life. A lesion on his forehead ate through skin, then muscle, then bone, leaving part of his skull exposed before surgeons removed the damaged tissue.
“They got to the point where my skull was exposed. I didn’t know that. I thought it was a crater,” he said.
He says he has survived sepsis at least three times and now relies on daily IV infusions while largely confined to his apartment. He cannot work. He cannot drive. Most days, according to the source material, it is just him, the hum of the IV machine, and the television. His two children, aged 17 and 18, visit when they can.
Dressel’s lawyers say he was offered about $48,000 through a broader Roundup settlement process, but he rejected it. His attorney, David Selby, told the Daily Mail that the figure would barely touch the medical debts Dressel has accumulated through years of treatment. “A settlement offer of this nature doesn’t even make the question hard,” Selby said. “It’s just not even realistic of what he’s been through.”
That matters because Bayer is trying to bring an end to years of Roundup litigation through a proposed nationwide settlement framework. According to a legal update tracking the litigation, Bayer says it has already resolved more than 100,000 claims and paid roughly $11 billion, though tens of thousands of cases remain active. A proposed $7.25 billion deal would allow eligible claimants to accept compensation or opt out and pursue their own lawsuits.
Dressel appears to have chosen the second route. Instead of accepting a fixed payout, he wants his own day in court, which creates risk for Bayer. Large-scale settlements depend on enough claimants deciding certainty is worth more than the gamble of trial. But if a jury awards millions to a plaintiff with catastrophic injuries, others may decide their own claims are worth far more than previously offered. That could drive up the cost of future negotiations, prolong litigation, and create fresh headaches for investors.
For Dressel, however, the battle is more immediate than any corporate strategy. His lawyers say he wants accountability while he is still alive to see it.
