I carry my PLB in the roof of my pack, with my FAK. If I'm in serious trouble and can't access my FAK I'll probably be dead anyway.

I don't want to prejudge a situation I know nothing about, but the deceased hiker died in a fall off the trail, sustaining serious injuries, and odds are he had a serious head trauma, and shock from internal bleeding. Frankly I don't know. But the presence of the SPOT device might not have made any difference to his chances of survival, given that he was hiking alone and the emergency response was delayed by weather. This is all just conjecture. RIP. Watch your step...