I can think of a tech that doesn't work as well on black people though: Pulse oximeters. A pulse oximeter works by shining two wavelengths of light through your finger to measure the amount of oxygen in your blood. It also sees your blood come and go with your pulse, so it can detect your heart rate. Well get this: melanin blocks light. A black man's finger is more opaque than a white man's finger, so optical pulse oximeters have been known to fail to detect hypoxia in dark skinned people. This problem has been known since the 70's, and continues to be a problem to the present day. Because you know what happened recently? A global pandemic of a respiratory disease. Pulse oximeters failed to detect hypoxia in more black patients than white patients, who then weren't given supplemental oxygen. So why in the last 50 years hasn't that been addressed?

[–] Eranziel@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

While I'm sure the obvious systemic issues contribute to not looking for alternatives, that does sound like largely an issue inherent to optical pulse oximeters. Engineers aren't miracle workers, they can't change physics to their liking.

I'm sure pulse oximeters now are more accurate than they were 20 years ago. The fact we're still using them is because no alternatives have been found which are as easy to use, reliable, and non-invasive as pulse oximeters, even with the known downsides.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 20 hours ago

Engineers aren't miracle workers, granted. Which is why it is their responsibility to thoroughly test the devices they design and document their limitations. It's then on the medical industry to train doctors and nurses on those limitations.

I’m sure pulse oximeters now are more accurate than they were 20 years ago.

As I said, this continues to be a problem into the present day. COVID-19 patients with dark skin would suffer from hypoxia that pulse oximeters would fail to detect, leading the medical staff to fail to administer supplemental oxygen. That's probably happening somewhere on earth as I type this.

Do the little lights in the device need to be brighter, or have a brighter mode? Does their need to be a switch on the side? Can our cultures handle a medical device with a "white people | black people" switch on the side?

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