Burning Questions on Apple Watch

Serious Health Implications

The new Apple Watch Series 4 — billed by the company as an "intelligent guardian for health" — can detect falls, take electrocardiograms and show nutritional information. This significantly ups its potential value as a tool to help patients monitor their health and act on concerns as they arise. But the Food and Drug Administration notes that the ECG app has limitations and is not recommended for use by patients with known arrhythmias. Nevertheless, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and Center for Devices and Radiological Health Director Jeff Shuren, M.D., issued a joint statement lauding the work of Apple and others to spur innovation and disruptive technologies. They added that the FDA is working to modernize its regulatory approach "to better enable and more efficiently spur innovation in this novel area to improve the health and quality of life of consumers and patients."

Now the real burning question: Will consumers continue to use these features and share their health data with their doctors long after the purchase?