"In California, where doctors performed more than 82,000 diabetic amputations from 2011 to 2017, people who were black or Latino were more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites..."

"... to undergo amputations related to diabetes.... A 2014 study by UCLA researchers found that people with diabetes in poorer neighborhoods in Los Angeles County were twice as likely to have a foot or leg amputated than those in wealthier areas. The difference was more than tenfold in some parts of the county. Amputations are considered a 'mega-disparity' and dwarf nearly every other health disparity by race and ethnicity.... To begin with, people who are black or Latino are more at risk of diabetes than other groups... Then, among those with the disease, blacks and Latinos often get diagnosed after the disease has taken hold and have more complications, such as amputations..... The circumstances that give rise to amputations are complex and often intertwined: Patients may avoid doctors because their family and friends do, or clinics are too far away. Some may delay medical visits because they don’t trust doctors or have limited insurance. Even when they seek treatment, some find it difficult to take medication as directed, adhere to dietary restrictions or stay off an infected foot.... [Hospitals] have started limb preservation centers [but e]ven with a team of specialists... saving a limb often depends on patients coming in early rather than waiting until their foot has become dangerously infected. But because their sensation is dulled, they often don’t appreciate the danger. 'How do you get someone to come in if they don’t have pain?... They need the gift of pain.'"

From "Diabetic Amputations A ‘Shameful Metric’ Of Inadequate Care" (Kaiser Medical News).