Remember: 3 encounters can be 9 months on these boards. At BEST it's probably 3 months. That may not be much time in-game but in real life, that's forever. Again: this is my opinion; YMMV.
Understood.
But, I don't understand the need to change the rule.
This appears to be an attempt to somehow resolve a problem that a) not everyone agrees is a problem, b) resolve it before we have any data from actual game play as to whether it is a real problem or not, and c) the only person currently affected by it doesn't seem bothered by it.
I don't think we should change the rules, every time a player (or players) makes a mistake and suddenly finds his PC behind the eight ball (I personally thought that provoking 3 OAs at 9 hit points was a tactical mistake, regardless of the intended heroism).
Personally, I like to keep the number of house rules, especially house rules that directly affect the actual rules of the game, to a minimum. It makes it easier on everyone if we play the game based on WotC rules as opposed to a hodge podge of house rules.