How an Apple Watch notification saved a man’s life

You know, I used to think that smartwatches were pointless cash grabs and useless vanity pieces for those fit enough to need all those stats and data, but I can admit now, I was wrong. Those of us who aren’t obsessed with exercise need them as well, if not more than our gym-going counterparts. Especially when their interventions have once again proved life-saving.

Picture the scene: you’re not being active, just sitting at your desk, when your Apple Watch sends you a notification telling you that your heart rate has jumped. That’s what happened to 28-year old Brooklynite James Green, whose Apple Watch basically saved his life. Green received an alert from the Heart Watch app, warning him that his heart rate was continually above his resting heart rate of 54 BPM.

He knew he had to act on it after pairing his unusual heart rate with other symptoms and promptly called his doctor. Turns out his Apple Watch gave him the warning he needed. If he hadn’t been alerted and immediately rushed to hospital, he probably would have died from a pulmonary embolism. The doctor’s CT scan revealed numerous blood clots and he was put on a blood thinner drip to reverse the clot damage.

Sharing his experience online, Green tweeted: “Never thought a stupid lil wrist computer I bought two years ago would save my life.”

Green’s experience follows a growing list of case studies documenting smartwatch heart rate monitors saving lives. One instance involved doctors consulting the heart rate monitor on a New Jersey man’s Fitbit Charge HR following a seizure. The doctors needed to consult his Fitbit’s heart rate history to see the best course of action.

Smartwatch heart monitors have been helping to save lives left and right, so much so that the adoption of them is even being encouraged by health professionals. The app significantly has the ability for patients to share their heart rate data with their doctors, as well as allow the user to check their non-active heart rate constantly throughout the day, alerting the owner if it falls above or below a certain threshold.