Apple Watch ECG

What you need to know

  • UK man's Apple Watch alerted him of an irregular heartbeat.
  • Doctors said it was "unlikely" to be the case.
  • He was diagnosed with two faulty heart valves.

We've heard plenty of stories where an Apple Watch has saved lives and Apple even made a big deal of the fact during its recent Apple Watch Series 5 announcement. And now another life has potentially been saved, this time in the UK.

Tabloid newspaper The Sun reports that fitness fan Chris Mint, 30, was wearing his Apple Watch when it reported that he potentially had atrial fibrillation. That's a feature that's available on Apple Watch Series 1 and later, but Mint apparently had no idea it existed. So he did what the watch suggested and sought the opinion of medical professional.

When he did, they said that it was "unlikely" that the watch was correct, but thankfully they conducted a full examination and confirmed the diagnosis. After seeing a specialist Mint was told he had "two leaking heart valves". Doctors went on to tell him that if his Apple Watch hadn't notified him of the issue he could have gone on to have a heart attack or stroke.

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When emailed about the story by the man's wife, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded saying "I'm glad your husband sought treatment and is fine now. Thanks for sharing his story — it inspires us to keep pushing forward."

Apple executives recently said that the health benefits came about by accident. We imagine Chris Mint and his family would call that a very happy accident indeed.