In another case of the Apple Watch detecting a medical condition, an Australian man says the Watch alerted him to his elevated heart rate, leading to fast enough intervention to save his life.
According to 9 News in Australia, 24-year-old college student Adam Love received notifications on his Apple Watch that his sleeping heart rate had reached between 130 and 140 beats per minute. Alarmed, Love visited a doctor.
The visit culminated in Love being diagnosed with a hole in his heart, a serious condition that he had had since birth and had been missed to that point. During the examination that was prompted by the Apple Watch data, the doctors also discovered that the man's circulatory system was delivering aerated blood to the wrong location.
The Apple Watch wasn't the only new technology that helped save Love's life. His subsequent heart surgery was performed via a keyhole incision, which was patched up by a daVinci 3D robot, allowing Love -- who happens to study robotics -- a much faster recovery.
Watches save lives
Love's is at least the fourth story to make the news rounds this year of the Apple Watch spotting a condition or otherwise playing a role in rescuing a user from a calamitous health emergency.
A woman and child were saved from a car accident after the activation of the Emergency SOS feature. The heart rate monitor helped lead to the diagnosis of a Florida teenager's kidney disease, while the same thing happened with a man's ruptured ulcer that same month. And a Hong Kong man's heart condition was spotted by the Apple Watch this past spring.
In some of those cases, including Love's, the life-saving properties have caused the users to declare themselves Apple Watch fans for life. Apple has not used any of these stories in advertising, although CEO Tim Cook has made personal phone calls to at least some of the users.