Does the Apple Watch Make You Healthier?
Medical ethicists worry that the burgeoning ability to monitor health data at home will widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots
Beth Stamps, a home health nurse in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was visiting a patient on January 10 when her heart began pounding. “It felt like my heart was pumping twice as fast, as if I was running a marathon,” she says. “I was terrified.”
Stamps looked at her Apple Watch, which can track a user’s heart rate. It alerted her that her heart was beating 177 times a minute, nearly double a normal resting heart rate. An app on the watch warned her to contact a doctor. Stamps called 911 and was raced to the emergency room, where she says she was treated for supraventricular tachycardia, an abnormally fast heart rhythm. “Ever since then, I’ve made sure to check my heart rate on the watch every day,” she says.
Stamps’ experience could become increasingly common as more people are able to track changes in their bodies without the help of a medical professional. The Apple Watch 4, released in 2018, includes an ECG feature for monitoring abnormal heart rhythm. It’s just one of a growing number of smart devices that allow people to monitor their health at home. The connected medical device market, which…
