In which we try to figure out what a hit point is

 Had a situation last session.  Character fell 60' and took enough damage for death.  Prior to "expiration" cleric wanted to know why he couldn't just "Cure Light Wounds" until he was back above 0 HP.  I had no answer, but it didn't FEEL right.  Didn't even feel right to the party.  But in the intervening time I've done some thinking.

The DM’s Guide defines hit points as “The number of points of damage a creature can sustain before death (or optionally, coma), reflecting the character’s physical endurance, fighting experience, skill or luck.”  But that causes all KINDS of problems. My conclusion? Hit points are an indication of how near a being is to death. Magical/spiritual …. even sexual …. healing only increases the distance between life and death. Once a character has gone below 0 HP only  application of medical skill or a successful Spare the Dying can help. Revivify can return a “dead” character to 1 HP whereupon healing can then be used to “increase the distance between the character and death.” Damage, injury, effects resulting from the damage taking the character below 0 still exists, but life has been restored.