I try to view player death as an opportunity. If you deprive your players of death they lose the option of doing heroically stupid things like Leonidas at Thermopylae staying behind to allow the rest of the Greeks to retreat and rally to beat the Persians. They also lose the excitement that death brings to the game. That said I regret saving a party from a poorly conceived overly difficult raging orc barbarian. I think I cheated the players from a sense of danger and realism for the rest of the game. Now in your case the death was ignoble and not particularly satisfying but it will increase the enjoyment the next time the players overcome a similar obstacle with their new characters.
