Push notification? Doctor helps deliver baby via Apple's FaceTime
Technically Incorrect: So what if you go into labor at your doctor's office, but she's at a hospital a few miles away? Never fear, she can still guide the birth -- as one New Jersey mom has discovered.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Dr. Meena Devalla offered her staff some guidance when it was clear the baby wasn't going to wait.
Being there isn't what it used to be.
We're all staring into screens 16 hours a day, so that's become a greater reality than the smoggy version outside. It's not too surprising, then, that some of life's elemental moments are now being experienced through screens, rather than touches and screams.
Just last month, an Australian man watched the birth of his child through Samsung Gear virtual-reality equipment. Now word has reached me of another technological joy being experienced through a screen. This time it was Newark, NJ. This time, it was FaceTime.
Dr. Meena Devalla, an OB/GYN, was finishing surgery Thursday at a hospital a few miles away when she received an urgent message from her office: One of her patients, Keyanna Rivera, had gone into labor there. But the baby wasn't going to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
What are you going to do? Nature has called and you cannot (yet) be in two places at once. At least, physically.
So, as MyFox New York reports, Devalla whipped out her iPhone, launched FaceTime and directed operations.
"It was comforting to know that she wasn't there, you know, physically, but she was still telling them 'clamp here, make sure the baby's breathing and do this,'" Rivera told the TV news station.
And so baby Rafael came into the world with very modern help.
"A few years ago, I didn't have this option," said Devalla. But the doctor also made it clear that it was an emergency.
I contacted Dr. Devalla's office, which confirmed the events. I still hope to hear from the doctor herself.
To think one day soon, she'll be able to direct childbirth while at dinner. Yes, on her Apple Watch, of course.
Wouldn't you love to be on the next table overhearing that conversation?