My experience is that you rarely contemplate whether withholding rescue services is even an option. At the beginning of an operation, you only know that someone is in trouble, or is potentially in trouble. Hardly ever do you have credible information on which to even begin to consider the non-rescue option. The fact is that you simply do not have all the details that are often available later on.

That doesn't mean that a rescue will always be available. Rescuers may be engaged in another operation, or weather may present obstacles. There is often an appreciable time lag.

With respect to ethics, what can we say about the morality of sitting in impromptu judgment of another human being, and deciding that they should die or continue to suffer simply because they did carry matches, or a tent, or whatever. It would be something like deciding not to transport an accident victim to the hospital because we thought the injured person was at fault and caused the accident. I don't think we do that.

If rescue, especially wilderness SAR in mountains or caves particularly, is going to be effective, it needs to be as prompt as possible. You can't hang around to get the information to decide if the person(s) in jeopardy "deserves" rescue. What kind of world would that be, anyway?