Blog

The Apple Watch has time and again made headlines for its life-saving abilities—be it its health tracking features, such as checking one’s blood oxygen and heart arrhythmia, or features like satellite tracking for remote rescues. Now, an Apple Watch has once again saved a woman’s life by waking her up mid-sleep and alerting her about a dangerous blood clot.

According to a report by AppleInsider, the woman—Kimmie Watkins, a resident of Cincinnati, USA—was feeling unwell, experiencing dizziness and lightheadedness. In the hope of feeling better, she decided to take a nap.

However, not long into her nap, her Apple Watch alerted her to an abnormally high heart rate, around 178 beats per minute, as reported by Local12 news.

Watkins mentioned that her Apple Watch sounded an alarm “that said that my heart rate had been too high for too long.” She added, “So for over 10 minutes, it was too high.” Concerned, she went to her doctor, only to discover that she had saddle pulmonary embolism—a life-threatening blood clot in the lungs.

Her doctor, Richard Becker, explained that having a saddle pulmonary embolism translates to only a 50% survival rate.

In all likelihood, if it weren’t for the Apple Watch alerting her to her heart rate, she might have dismissed the issue and could have died.

“It might be seen as staying too connected or something, but I think it can be helpful in a health sense, and not just in a connect-to-people sense,” Watkins said.

In related news, last month, a woman’s Apple Watch reportedly auto-dialed 911 after detecting no movement on her end after she collapsed from the ruptured aorta.