The "death glitch" is a processing bug that occurs in the sleeping dragon chamber between the poisoned valley and limestone cave. If you're playing on PS2 hardware, the glitch doesn't occur. If you use other hardware, you'll need to take an extra step to fix it:

• PlayStation 4 & 5: Update to the latest version.

• Emulation: Go to Config, then Emulation Settings, and in the EE/IOP tab, set Roun Mode to 'Nearest'

• PlayStation 3 (With PS2 copy): Switch to PS2 or emulation, play the game on PS4/5, or endure the Cliff Forest.