While I admire RMS's passion on freedom and privacy and the abhorrence of using non-free (free-as-in-freedom) software, I just wonder what he'll do or feel when non-free software has to be used to save his life one day.
In his essay, He has already mentioned that he considers Microwaves, TV's, ATM's as utilities and has no qualms,
>"if updating software is not a normal part of use of the device, then it is not a computer.",
So, it derives that he is OK with flying on planes (which has proprietary software but is not prone to updates like your PC software is) or maybe an MRI machine or an Xray machine of the sorts for your life threatening scenario you mentioned. These are utilities.
Now, I don't consider updates to be abnormal, but neither is it something I'd ever list in response to "how do you normally use your phone?"
Or my kindle. I update the software on that far less frequently.
Thus, the iPhone is very much a computer.
Contrast this with -say- most computer monitors. There is software running in them, but -in (almost?) every case- upgrading that software requires either gaining access to programming ports inside the monitor and performing an arcane ritual that might involve specialized hardware or physically swapping out chips.
If, in some convoluted way, one were faced with the choice between death and purposely installing non-free software on one's own device, I expect RMS would consider you to be a victim and feel sorry for you, but recommend that of course you should do the thing that saves your life.
I would further expect - only slightly more weakly - that he'd take his own advice.
Particularly given that he's himself used a proprietary BIOS when there were no other options, for simple "ability to do computing" which is clearly less severe than preserving life (it's awfully hard to do the one without the other).
As a side note: the pendulum is swinging the other way in regards to cholesterol - so in many cases doctors are not actually concerned about high cholesterol in the same way they used to be.