I just don't understand how articles like these get put up when all they had to do literally was run a search on the word regeneration. (I'm assuming the writer had access to the rpgnow pdf's.)
Articles like these get put up after conversations in the D&D development pit (the place where work) that involve designers, customer service, developers, and editors, usually with books open and doing searches on terms like regeneration.
This one came up after it came up in Chris Perkin's game (funny story, the Chris of the question in...er...question). We got together, chatted about it, and then I wrote that section of the column based on the outcome of those conversations.
The list is not meant to be sequential (I double checked with the editors), though I can see why some folks use it as such. Using as a sequential list will not ruin your game, damn you to a purgatory of wrong-minded DMs or anything ridiculous like that, and leads to perfectly reasonable results most of the time, but I would submit it's not the best answer for the reasons I point out in the column.
At the same time, like any kind of rules issues you find in the "Save My Game" column, this is a rules-lite answer. It's more of what we consider the best option in the face of true rules silence or ambiguity, usually when coming up with a true official update answer would just overly complicate the game.
Strictly, it is not right, it is not wrong...nothing nearly that binary...it's just what we consider the best way of dealing with what could be in an issue in your campaign. Mileage may vary. I tried to get that point across in the column; maybe I could have done a better job of that.
Hope that helps!