Kaiser Health News: Education and Coverage Gaps Lead to Avoidable Amputations

Coming to terms with systemic racism in health care is long overdue (“What Doctors Aren’t Always Taught: How to Spot Racism in Health Care,” Nov. 17). The way medicine is taught and the payment policies that shape the system have created persistent disparities in patient outcomes across racial and ethnic groups.

As a result, Black Americans are 80% more likely than whites to be diagnosed with diabetes and are twice as likely to die from the disease. Furthermore, Black American patients are up to four times more likely to experience an amputation than their white counterparts due to advanced peripheral artery disease (PAD), a common complication for people with diabetes and other chronic conditions. Similarly, Latinos are up to 75% more likely to experience an amputation than whites, while Native Americans are twice as likely to lose a limb.

Click here to see the full article on the Kaiser Health News website.