Apple Watch calls 911 for woman suffering from widowmaker heart attack

Fall Detection in the Apple Watch can call for help if you collapse.

The Apple Watch has repeatedly been credited with saving lives of its users. In a new example of this, a Reddit user recounted an incident involving their mother's heart when the Apple Watch helped secure swift treatment.

Explained by u/xanderpy on r/Apple, the story recounts how the Redditor's mother felt a pain in her chest while on an out-of-state business trip. After messaging a friend in the same hotel about her concerns, she fell to the ground face-first.

Minutes later, the friend reached her room and called 911, but was informed that an ambulance was already on the way. It was later discovered that the Apple Watch had automatically called 911 through its fall detection feature.

While the Apple Watch does have heart rate detection features, such as the ECG since the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple has made it clear that the feature is not capable of detecting a heart attack.

The mother was taken to hospital and was found to have a ruptured aorta. A few days later after surgery, she was able to explain that the Apple Watch summoned assistance, with the fast transit to hospital also helping her chances of survival.

The Redditor concluded that, after believing similar stories are "exaggerated for publicity or possibly just made up," their view has changed on the matter. "This made me an Apple user for life and showed me that technology like this can truly save lives," they finished.

The Apple Watch has helped with various medical issues in the past, including helping uncover an undiagnosed atrial fibrillation in one writer, while a Cleveland man was able to have blood clots in his lungs diagnosed following blood oxygen alerts from the device.

In 2021, a Michigan woman said the Apple Watch saved her life after detecting a high heart rate, caused by a heart attack.