The Apple Watch’s ability to save lives continues to grow with new stories about the revolutionary capabilities of this wearable device. Reportedly, a British doctor used an Apple Watch borrowed from a flight attendant to save the life of a passenger who was stressed during a flight.
Dr. Rashid Diaz (43) works at Hereford County Hospital, England, and on January 9, 2024, he was traveling on a Ryanair flight from Birmingham, England, to Verona, Italy. During the flight, an elderly woman began to have difficulty breathing, and Diaz volunteered to help when a crew member asked if there was a doctor on board. The woman was reportedly unresponsive to Diaz’s questions at first, but the doctor, after learning that the woman had heart problems, asked the flight attendant for an Apple Watch. He used the Apple Watch to monitor the sick woman’s blood oxygen levels using the gadget’s app, which indicated low blood oxygen saturation.
Apple Watch has proven to be one of the most vital devices you can carry around
Riaz then asked the flight crew to provide an oxygen tank, which helped him stabilize the woman’s blood oxygen saturation until the plane landed in Verona. The woman then received additional medical attention and reportedly made a quick recovery. Dr. Diaz said that he learned a lot about how to use the Apple Watch during the flight. He also emphasized that this is a lesson in how we can improve in-flight travel with such basic gadgets that can help in emergencies. Diaz praised Ryanair for the way they handled the situation, but noted that airlines should consider having diagnostic tools on board during flights. Such gadgets could measure vital health indicators such as blood pressure and oxygen saturation, and help determine if someone is having a diabetes emergency.
It is noted that Apple lost a court case brought by a company that claimed that Apple violated its property rights to blood oxygen measurement technology. This led to a ban on the blood oxygen measurement function in some Apple Watch models.
