I think it was a cost saving measure back then, but if they have the time and budget to make emotes to sell in the mog station surely they can fix this. I just think people haven't made a fuss about it enough for them to take notice.

It's probably because no one wants to be overly morbid or anything, but dying is part of the game and they should pay attention to it. Just ask the people of Sims 4 what happened to EA when they removed the ability to die by drowning. They threw a giant fit.