Otha Rucker was told he'd need a toe amputation because of complications with diabetes. But when he woke up, his entire leg was gone. His new doctor, padadvocate, points to failures in diabetes treatment and systemic racism in health care. For more:
CLEVELAND, MISS. – The waiting room at Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi is simple, yet inviting, and always busy. Some patients have driven two hours for their appointment with the doctor. Most people around here just call him Doc — the name Foluso Fakorede doesn’t roll easily off the tongues of those with the honeyed southern accents of the Mississippi Delta.
“There are a lot of patients who actually walk into this clinic who do not realize they're a diabetic until I draw their labs,” says Fakorede.Erin Billups joined Spectrum News NY1's Errol Louis' podcast "You Decide with Errol Louis" to discuss their new collaborative special report “USA1C: Fighting the Rise of Diabetes,” which is currently airing on Spectrum News nationally.
The pandemic has only made matters worse. For a time it was harder to get healthy food, exercise, and even make it to medical appointments. Diabetics were also at a much higher risk of serious COVID-19 illness.Otha Rucker was diagnosed with diabetes 30 years ago. Despite changing his diet and losing weight over the years, he knows he’s at greater risk. He says the pandemic was a frightening time, made worse by the discovery that he was suffering from PAD.
Fakorede says an angiogram can reduce the likelihood of amputation by as much as 90%. “Ever since I've been here, I can tell you that the majority of my patients do not end up with a knife applied.”Otha Rucker was diagnosed with diabetes 30 years agoLast summer, Rucker noticed a blister on the toe of his right foot — on his healthier leg.
He attributes the disparity to systemic racism within the healthcare field. “There are still some racially biased attitudes that are enshrined in policy,” he says.
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