When it comes to monitoring people’s health, Apple Watch appears as the leader in the smartwatch market. This is not just a claim, rather a real life saver for many.
In a recent incident, when a woman felt seriously ill during a flight, it turned out that the Apple Watch was the hero of the moment. Luckily, there was a doctor on board, and he spotted the watch’s blood oxygen level feature (unfortunately the feature was recently discontinued) and saved the woman’s life.
On January 9, on a flight from the UK to Italy, a 70-year-old British woman developed respiratory distress. The flight crew, realizing the gravity of the situation, called for help. Fortunately, there was a National Health Service (NHS) doctor named Rashid Riaz on the plane. According to the BBC, Dr Riaz, 43, asked the crew if the woman had an Apple Watch to monitor her health.
Using the health-monitoring features on the Apple Watch, Dr Riaz specifically used the blood oxygen feature. This trait measures the amount of oxygen carried by red blood cells from the lungs to the rest of the body, and low levels are often associated with shortness of breath. The Apple Watch played an important role in alerting Dr. Riaz to the woman’s low oxygen levels and also informed her that she had heart problems.
The doctor then stabilized the oxygen level through the on-board oxygen cylinder, depending on the situation. The plane landed safely in Italy about an hour later.