41. You forgot to include the dead man.
The entire Everest "thing" is an exercise in reckless self-indulgence, an act of homage to personal vanity. All these men voluntarily and with relish signed up to play a variety of Russian roulette. The dead man pulled the trigger on a chambered round and lost. The others put a cartridge back in the revolver, spun it, and continued to play.
The dead man has no special moral advantage or standing over his comrades.
You wrote "The dead man has no special moral advantage or standing over his comrades," as if that is relevant.
Your analogy is straight out of a cheap dime novel, and also irrelevant.
The man's moral standing has no bearing on one's duty to act, and his participation in a game of chance and excitement do not negate the duty others have to him.
If you're going to take that approach, at least use the gold standard - Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven: "we all got it coming."
and scene