Palladium compounds are encountered relatively rarely by most people as they are hardly used. All palladium compounds should be regarded as highly toxic and as carcinogenic. Palladium chloride is toxic, harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. It causes bone marrow, liver and kidney damage in laboratory animals. Irritant.

However palladium chloride was formerly prescribed as a treatment for tuberculosis at the rate of 0.065 g per day (approximately 1 mg/kg) without too many side effects.

There are no data on palladium toxicity from food, as the concentrations are extremely low.