Snippet: ECG Feature on Apple Watch Series 4 Saving Lives ☇

/u/edentel on Reddit updated his Apple Watch to watchOS 5.1.2 and found out he had a heart condition immediately after the update, confirmed by doctors:

Doctor comes in, looks at the screen, looks at me and says “You should buy Apple stock. This probably saved you. I read about this last night and thought we would see an upswing this week. I didn’t expect it first thing this morning.”

I sort of expected a few stories like this, as many people probably have some sort of unknown health conditions that are surfacing with the more sensors and devices we can get at home. Although there’s always the chance for false positives, it seems the ECG sensor is that good that you should err on the side of caution if something seems amiss.

In most of the developed world, healthcare is generally thought of as inexpensive and readily available. In the United States, that’s not the case, but having more data about ourselves can’t hurt, especially if debating about if we should go see a doctor or not.