A Massachusetts woman has filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging the company’s famed fall detection feature failed her in a life-or-death moment. Terry Lucash of Lawrence claims her Apple Watch, purchased specifically for its emergency alert technology, did not call 911 when she tumbled down her basement stairs in October 2022, leaving her unconscious with a brain bleed for more than 13 hours before help arrived.

According to the complaint, filed Friday in Middlesex County Superior Court, Lucash seeks at least $1.8 million in damages. She accuses Apple of negligence, breach of warranty, and violations of Massachusetts consumer protection law, arguing the company ignored a prior demand letter on the issue.

From Promise of Safety to a Medical Nightmare

Apple markets its fall detection system as a safeguard: if the watch senses a hard fall and the wearer remains immobile for a minute, it should sound an alarm and automatically call emergency services. But Lucash says her device failed to deliver on that promise.

The fall left her with a severe traumatic brain injury. Court filings detail how she spent a month in intensive care, endured long-term acute care, required repeated hospitalizations due to complications, and now depends on home assistance for daily living. Her attorneys argue the delayed medical response “significantly and adversely affected her medical trajectory and health.”

Legal Battle Over Accountability

The lawsuit names Feinberg & Alban PC attorneys Robert I. Feinberg and Alexis A. Cahill as Lucash’s legal team. Counsel for Apple was not immediately identified, and both Apple and Lucash’s lawyers did not respond to media inquiries Monday.

The Apple Watch Fall detection suit puts the tech giant on the defensive, raising questions about whether one of its most publicized safety features is as reliable as advertised—or whether its failure in this case reveals cracks in Apple’s promise of life-saving innovation.

As the case unfolds, the courtroom will become the arena where Apple’s celebrated wearable faces its toughest test yet: proving it can deliver when lives hang in the balance.