R’ Pinkas answers that death can come either through a killing agent, or because of not having a reason to keep on living. The Eitz Hachayim not only stopped death, it also gave a reason to live. He brings the story of the Chasam Sofer, who was sick after Sukkos and died at the end of Tishrei, who said that he had made it through the Yomim Nora’im well, but he didn’t do well on Hoshanna Rabba. If the psak is already done, but the ‘piskim’ are brought in on Hoshanna Rabba, why would he have died? The answer is, that even though there was no psak against him, he still needed the ‘piska’ of life to be delivered. He also uses this to explain “sifrei chayim vesifrei meisim psuchim lefonov”. This means that a person not only has to be mispallel to avoid being written in the sefer of misah, but also needs to be mispallel to be put into the sefer of chayim.