I don't know many details of the incident, but if the barb only penetrated the ventricles (lower chambers) and he had left it in he might have survived. Simple ventricle injuries can usually be sewn shut, but once you rip them open and open a major channel for blood loss you're pretty well screwed.
"If one has realized a truth, that truth is valueless so long as there is lacking the indomitable will to turn this realization into action!"
-A.H.
-A.H.