Brandon Schneider, a 25-year old Long Island man, says that his Apple Watch saved his life when he had fainted and fell in the restroom of the hospital Emergency Room (ER) during a visit. Apparently, Brandon went to the ER last month on July 12 "after days of increasingly excruciating abdominal pain and a misdiagnoses [sic] of a Kidney Stone".
Upon his fall, the Apple Watch detected an impact and sent a haptic prompt that Brandon did not respond to inside the 45 seconds. After this, the Watch sent an alert to his father who had accompanied him on this visit.
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While Brandon cannot recall these events as he was still unconscious, his CT scans showed major damage including a fractured skull and multiple life-threatening hematomas which required immediate attention. He underwent surgery the next day and is recovering well. Here is an image after the incident that he posted on his Instagram:
In a recent interview (via People), Brandon has urged everyone to use their watches well and set up emergency contacts on their smartwatches as soon as possible realizing the potentially life-saving benefits of such a feature.
I share my story, not for sympathy, but because I want to encourage every person who reads this to purchase an Apple Watch or if you have an Apple Watch to set up your emergency contacts
Smartwatches and wearables have become very popular recently and especially during this pandemic with close to half a billion units being shipped last year according to a recent report by the analyst firm IDC. Among them, Apple products hold the majority with more than a third (36.2%) of the market.