science

Pulse oximeters do not directly read oxygen. They use light absorption to approximate how much hemoglobin is oxygenated or deoxygenated. The de/oxygenation changes the light absorption (its why arterial blood is bright red and venous blood is darker). That is then converted by mathematical algorithm to a estimate of oxygenation the "reading".

This is stating essentially that in black skinned people the changes in light absorption because of the skin color results in the algorithm giving a falsely higher reading than is actually present in the patient.

The math will have to be fixed in some way for black people to receive appropriate care. Whether that is a device unaffected by skin color or different math based on skin color needs to be figured out.