Apple Watch Credited For Saving Elderly Woman's Life

Over the years, Apple has added several life-saving features to the Apple Watch that have, time and again, proven their worth. Apart from the ECG feature that the Apple Watch has had for several years now, newer editions of the watch use several sensors to detect an untoward event. When correctly set up, data from these sensors can trigger messages to emergency services to alert them of medical emergencies. Apart from describing the nature of the emergency, Apple Watch also sends them their exact location — all of which help them reach the patient as soon as they possibly can.

And this is exactly what transpired on March 3, 2022, when the Apple watch worn by an elderly woman from Saint Petersburg, Florida, detected that she had taken a fall and immediately alerted emergency services. After the woman was hospitalized, an examination revealed a cancerous growth in her lungs. She is now seeking treatment for the same.

Even though 71-year-old Raylene Hackenwerth doesn't recall what happened right before the fall, she now considers herself lucky she was wearing an Apple Watch when she fell. According to WFTS, she is also thankful to the gadget for indirectly detecting the cancerous growth, which would have otherwise remained under the radar. While the circumstances that led to Ms. Hackenwerth's fall are unclear, what we do know is that on March 3, her son Jason Hackenwerth received a text message from Raylene's Apple Watch saying that it had detected a fall.

But Jason was away from his phone at the time and did not see the message until later.

Unbeknown to him, Ms. Raylene's fall had also triggered an automated 911 call, and a text message with her exact coordinates was also shared with emergency services. Medical personnel were able to reach Raylene – who was nearly unconscious at the time – within minutes and quickly moved her to a hospital, where further tests detected a cancerous growth in her lungs.

Jason says he wasn't aware of the Apple Watch's emergency features — but is happy that he chose to gift the product to his mother last Christmas. The watch was intended as a tool to help Ms. Raylene keep track of her workouts, but it has already proven itself to be a far greater tool than that.

Even as Ms. Hackenwerth awaits treatment for cancer, she is thankful to Apple Watch for saving her life and helping doctors detect her cancer in its early stages.

"If it hadn't been for the falling and the Apple Watch calling them, I wouldn't even know this was there, and maybe by the time it had got found in the future, it would be too late," she was quoted saying to WFTS.

Ms. Hackenwerth's case is not the first instance of Apple Watch saving people's lives. Another recent incident involving an Apple Watch was reported from India, where the gadget was credited with saving the life of a 33-year-old man.