The biggest problem with PC death (as a player and a DM) is to make the death meaningless. You don't need every death to be a tear-jerking, knife-to-the-gut, eat a tub of ice cream experience. Some deaths are hilarious and totally fitting for the character, but try to make sure you, the player, and the party feel something about it - hollow experiences in DnD rob everyone.

I'm pretty strict about dice rolls, but on occasion I've fudged a unstoppable death until a later round so players could try (and fail an incredibly high DC check because the guy would have been dead five rounds ago) to give it more impact as the battle was ending, or I've had people survive horrible accidents, "you're on your flying fortress 2,000 feet in the air." "I jump off." He survived, his legs were shattered and the cleric arrived too late to fix them. Suddenly he cared about the character living and the party wanted to help him go full Professor X (flying carpet) so he could continue the journey with them. After 3 full sessions with our paladin carrying him on his back (also hilarious).