A father received life saving surgery after his Apple Watch warned him he had a low heart rate.
Paul Hutton, 48, was notified by his smartwatch that his heart rate was frequently dropping below 40bpm – a normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100bpm.
After visiting his GP and being diagnosed with an low heart rate… He was referred to a consultant who diagnosed him with ventricular bigeminy, a condition where the heart beats irregularly and therefore blood is unable to pump out effectively.
Mr Hutton, a technology writer, of Bradfield, Essex, had a three hour procedure, known as cardiac ablation, to correct the issue.
Mr Hutton has now recovered from the surgery… “I keep checking my pulse on my Apple Watch and it all seems good,” he said.
MacDailyNews Take: Yet another life saved, thanks to Apple Watch!
Good for him that his AppleWatch saved him in this case. However, that’s one reason why they tell adults to have checkups with their primary care physicians at least once a year which would normally include an ECG test. That’s important because most people don’t own an AppleWatch and Apple will never market it in a way to reach the masses which is rather unfortunate.
Uhm no. Usual annual checkups do NOT include an ECG test. Most PCPs don’t even have an EKG machine. You have to see your cardiologist, a specialist, and then obviously, you need a referral, so you have to have some medical reason to be referred.