The Apple Watch Saves Another Life

Macworld writer Chuck La Tournous recently experienced some troubling but somewhat minor symptoms, which he was inclined to ignore until he checked his heart rate on his Apple Watch.

“Along with the shortness of breath, I could feel my heart racing in my chest. Stopping to talk to a colleague on the way to my office, the mere act of speaking left me practically gasping for air. I cut the conversation short and continued to my office. Sitting still made me feel better, but not great.

It was then I thought about the heart rate sensor on my Apple Watch. I opened the Heart Rate app, curious to see if my heart rate was actually elevated or if it was just my imagination. It read 118 beats per minute. Definitely not my imagination—my normal resting heart rate is in the low 70s.”

Chuck continued to check his heart rate over the next several hours, and finally realized that something serious was going on: it was not a fluke or something he could wish away. If it weren’t for seeing the elevated heart rate in hard numbers on his Apple Watch, he might have brushed aside his symptoms to finish his busy workday.

He did seek medical care, and as it turns out, his leg was throwing blood clots. He had a grandfather who died from a cardiac embolism, one of these clots that reached his heart. Chuck might have suffered the same fate if it weren’t for the Apple Watch forcing him to take his symptoms seriously and seeking medical attention when he did. Chuck is now on blood thinners and will continue to monitor his blood pressure and pulse ox using third party accessories, but he credits the Apple Watch with saving his life. Read his full story on Macworld here.

This isn’t the first time that an Apple Watch has helped save a life. I expect that with the advent of the SOS feature in watchOS 3 making it even easier to seek medical attention, we’ll be hearing even more stories like this.