I can only describe what I've read.
But if you are asking me......do I personally know what the man's condition was.....and what the conditions on the mountain were at that moment? No, I cannot. I wasn't there...I don't know.
As for "my purpose"....I guess you are asking why I would try to help the guy beyond giving him 02...?
FWIW, I work in a hospital where I often treat people that are dying. The short version is..we do what we can. We provide comfort. We address their physical wants and needs..And we address their spiritual wants and needs, if any.
I'm a pretty "black and white" guy...but I just don't think I could walk on by this guy...and NOT try to do something more than tossing the guy my extra 02 tank. I don't think like that....And even though it may have been futile. I would have tried.
Maybe you could walk on by. I don't think I could have.
The temperature is roughly -30oC (-22oF) up there when it's ~-81oF at sea level. The air is less than 1/3 as dense, so it has that much less oxygen. Footing is tough enough for one. The guy had used up the 2 bottles of Ox he brought, just to get to base camp. He shouldn't have needed that to get there. He went on to the Summit alone w/o any.
They found him passed out and frozen in the snow. His pO2 levels had to be very low. The Ox was given to wake him and assess his condition. W/o it, he'd just pass out again. There's no way to warm him and keep him warm for the descent to the base camp. He'd continue to freeze, the rest of the way. Their assessment was that the man was terminal under these conditions. In addition, the descent would have been much more dangerous taking the man down. The man was passed out again before they walked away. That's about the best comfort they could give him.
"Maybe you could walk on by. I don't think I could have."
Given the conditions and what would be my assessment that the guy wouldn't make it, and there's nothing I can do to save him, I would't risk my life trying to take his body down. If he's part of my group, the trek reverses when one of the group clearly isn't going to make it. With this guy, the indicaiton was when he took 2 bottles of Ox just to get to base camp, then said he could continue up into the thin air w/o it. He could always decide to go on his own, which this guy did, but having buddies along means they catch you when you drop, or at least before your stumps freeze solid. Which this guy's did long before he got to the summit.
You can try next year. All you have to do is pay $35,000 and spend one year in very rigorous physical training.
If you are lucky enough to make it past the last base camp, a tent in the death zone that you cannot linger at for more than a couple of hours, you will find a climber in need.
Every year its the same story, different names.
Good luck getting him down. Chances are you will not make it and climbers will be stepping past your body for decades.