The Apple Watch Fall Detection feature has saved another life, after the feature helped a woman get medical attention after collapsing due to a major and potentially fatal heart issue.
Explained by u/xanderpy on r/Apple, the story recounts how the Redditor’s mother felt a pain in her chest while on a business trip. After messaging a friend staying in the same hotel about her chest pains, she fell to the ground face-first.
The friend reached her room a few minutes later and called 911, but was informed that an ambulance was already on the way. The Apple Watch had already automatically called 911 through its fall detection feature.
Wanted to share a quick story about the Apple Watch and how it helped save my mom’s life.
My mom was on a business trip in another state and staying in a hotel. She started to feel a pain in her chest and grew concerned. She texted her friend who was also at the hotel and asked her to come to her room (did not imply there was any emergency). Immediately after this, she collapsed to the floor face first.
A couple minutes later, her friend came to her room, found her collapsed on the ground and called 911. When doing this, they stated an ambulance was already on the way. Turns out my mom had a ruptured aorta and the situation was so bad that it took an insane set of circumstances for her to make it through, including the incredibly fast transport to the hospital.
Fast forward to a few days later when she awoke from surgery (plus a couple days since she was on feeding/breathing tubes at first) and we asked if she called 911 before she collapsed. She did not. We found out that her watch actually called 911 after the fall and not detecting movement.
I see stories like this sometimes and think that they are exaggerated for publicity or possibly just made up. I obviously no longer think this. Apple technology has a firm grip on me and my entire family already but this… this was something else. This made me an Apple user for life and showed me that technology like this can truly save lives.
After being taken to the hospital, the mother was found to have a ruptured aorta. A few days later she had surgery.
The Apple Watch has a history of detecting falls and other medical issues and contacting 911 and saving a life.
In February, an Apple Watch alerted an owner’s life, by alerting them to a racing pulse after a nap, leading to the diagnosis of severe internal bleeding. The Apple Watch provides a number of health-related alerts, including some related to pulse rate.