Apple Watch Saves Life, Alerts Man About A-Fib Heart Condition

Roy Robinson, a 74-year-old Florida man had an interesting revelation from wearing the Apple Watch. On a trip to Baltimore, his watch alerted him that an atrial fibrillation event had occurred.

Atrial fibrillation or A-fib is a quivering or irregular heartbeat, which can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications.

During a family trip, Robinson got a notification reading, "You’re in A-fib" on Apple Watch with hourly alerts thereafter. Robinson was feeling weird when his daily trip up three flights of stairs at his granddaughter’s school left him out of breath. He chose to ignore the weakness and continue through his day.

When his family saw continued notifications, they decided to look into the matter. Before the notification, Robinson didn’t even know that a medical condition called A-fib existed. He had to look it up on Google and when he found what it was, he rushed to the John Hopkins Hospital.

“We showed up at the hospital and they said, 'Why are you here?' I say, [. . .] 'My watch says that I'm in A-fib,'" Robinson said. "So he hooks me up to the electrocardiogram and after about 30 seconds of looking at the electrocardiogram, says, 'We're admitting you,’” he told ABC News affiliate WPBF.

Doctors at the hospital told Robinson that the device had saved his life.

The Apple Watch has been credited with saving multiple lives since the feature for automatic detection of A-fib was introduced on the device in 2018. The device regularly monitors heart rate data using its heart rate sensors and sends it to the Apple Healthkit software, which analyses it and issues alerts if needed.

The most recent iteration of the device comes with a single-lead ECG, which can detect irregular heartbeats accurately.

Once Robinson returned from the hospital, he actually received a letter from Apple CEO Tim Cook wishing him health.