When Brice first knew about Sharp may have had little effect on whether anything could be done for him.
The man was still frozen at the top of the highest mountain in the world.
The critique of the climbers hinges on whether they knew he was dying on the way up or didn't find out until the way down. There are conflicting stories about that because it obviously looks bad to walk around a dying man to get to the top. Whether they could have saved him instead of going to the top may well remain an open question.