Injury? Yes, no questions about it. Permanent, serious injury? Up for discussion. Death? Nah, not right now for any character I'm RPing here, anyway. I just don't have the heart to do it. It's purely for myself, though. Unless someone is an actual, static RP partner with a main character heavily invested in yours, I don't see why you should let other people sway you. It doesn't "sever connections OOC" unless someone is bleeding over. Just communicate, stay in touch OOC, and RP on new characters. Character death also doesn't really "force" anything onto other characters anymore than normal RP interactions do.
When you RP with someone, you're pretty much signing up to have your character influenced by theirs, however it may happen, slightly or significantly. Nothing is being "forced" on you. It's just the nature of RP. Likewise, it's not fair to tell someone what to do with their character because of how it will influence your character. If you don't like the RP, walk away from it and/or retcon it, but don't try to stop someone from enjoying their own RP. Their character is their baby, let them do as they please with him/her.
When you RP with someone, you're pretty much signing up to have your character influenced by theirs, however it may happen, slightly or significantly. Nothing is being "forced" on you. It's just the nature of RP. Likewise, it's not fair to tell someone what to do with their character because of how it will influence your character. If you don't like the RP, walk away from it and/or retcon it, but don't try to stop someone from enjoying their own RP. Their character is their baby, let them do as they please with him/her.