African Americans have their legs chopped off at nearly 4 times that of those who are white. There are a number of factors that play into this, but I’m going to share one of the biggest ones I see, which is a history of medical mistreatment that has led to a mistrust in doctors so People of Color wait until PAD reaches advanced stages where they have no other choice but to go to the doctor.

The distrust of doctors by people of color is not something we just have in our heads. It is not just a few bad doctors it was and is still systematic. Let’s look a two disgusting examples of medical racism.

1. Beginning in 1932 and lasting until 1972, 600 Black men in Tuskegee, Ala., were experimented on to see the effects of syphilis in the human body in a government-sanctioned project. According to historical records, 399 were infected and another 201 were uninfected as a control, most of them poor sharecroppers from the area.

The research was conducted on the campus of the then-Tuskegee Institute by the U.S. Public Health Service.

The men, who were mostly illiterate, were not informed they were part of a medical study, were attracted by offers of high quality health care rarely received by their peers. But instead of being given medicines to treat syphilis, which were available by 1947, they were told they simply had “bad blood.” Prior to 1947, however, dozens of men had died and their wives and children infected.

In 1972, the Associated Press reported about the 40-year experiment on Black men taking place under the guise of a medical study. That prompted a considerable backlash and, ultimately, a panel blasted the poor ethics of those involved. The study officially ended that year. A 1973 class-action lawsuit on behalf of the victims resulted in a $9 million settlement.

2. Between 1909 and 1979, California forcibly – and legally – sterilized around 20,000 women, most of whom were Black women and other women of color who were incarcerated or under state guardianship because of some perceived incapacity.

In North Carolina, sterilizations were also used against Black women in state institutions to “weed out any feeble-minded.”

Acknowledging the full history of America’s medical industry is crucial to better understanding and combating race-based health disparities in the Black community.

Psychological and Cognitive Sciences study in 2016 revealed a somber truth: Some medical professionals still believe there are biological differences between Black and white patients. 

In turn, they are less likely to treat Black patients for pain. The study further found that nearly half of the medical students in the study believed Black people have less sensitive nerve endings. Again this is 2016.