Sounds good, if you can make something better why not right? It always feels good to do something in way you consider right.
There are a couple of ways to represent the whole death thing without making it seen too harsh (like no blood/gore, something more akin of a ''clean death''), but i do believe the death ending could remain as an alternative if you find an appropriate way of portraying it. (would be an interesting alternative ending, that's for sure).
Although i agree with you that re-writing the ending would result in something more palatable.