Plugging the hole

The big issue in the dailies following Steve Irwin's death are now centred around whether the video of his very public death should be made public. Apparently Irwin, after being hit by the stingray in the chest, can be seen pulling the barb out of his chest before losing consciousness.
At the time of writing this, it is unclear whether the cause of death was the stingray's poison or cardiac tamponade, and this raises another issue.
If the latter, would he have been better of leaving the barb in place to plug the hole?
Anyone thoughts?