Apple Watch saves a doctor’s life who took a hard fall

San Francisco, Oct 26

An Apple Watch has reportedly been credited with saving the life of a doctor, who fell from the side of his house while power washing.

According to NBC Chicago, while washing the bricks of his house, Thomas Ficho tried to reach higher by using the cover on the window as a stepping stone. It was then that the cover moved, causing him to fall five feet into the basement egress well.

"I could have died down there, but my watch called 911," Ficho was quoted as saying.

A fall detection feature in the Apple Watch triggered the emergency services call on behalf of Ficho after he fell.

After three to five minutes, Ficho said he was able to climb out of the well himself. When he did, a Glenview police officer was standing on his lawn.

The officer asked him if he was OK or needed a paramedic.

Ficho said "no" but asked the officer how he knew the internist needed help. The officer pointed to Ficho's watch, the report added.

"I was really surprised; I didn't put it together immediately that my watch was going to do that," Ficho added.

Apple introduced the Fall Detection feature with the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018 and is only available for users aged 18 or older.

The watch uses built-in gyroscopes to measure motion. If there is any fall detected, the watch will ask if the user is OK or need to call 911.

When the user does not respond, a built-in cellphone or the iPhone connected to the watch will place the call without the user's input. It will also send the watch's GPS location.

Meanwhile, Apple Watch has recently been credited with spotting a 12-year-old girl's rare cancer before she was even aware of it, with the help of its heart rate notifications feature.

Earlier this month, Apple Watch detected the pregnancy of a 34-year-old woman.

--IANS