UK to probe racial bias in medical devices after COVID toll

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British government is investigating whether built-in racial bias in some medical devices led to Black and Asian people getting sick and dying disproportionately from COVID-19. Health Secretary Sajid Javid says the pandemic has highlighted health disparities along race and gender lines. Britain’s statistics office has found that in the first year of the pandemic Black and South Asian people had higher death rates than their white compatriots. Javid says one issue is that pulse oximeters measuring blood oxygen levels through the skin work less well on darker skin. He said in the Sunday Times that “the possibility that a bias … could lead to a poorer health outcome is totally unacceptable.”