I can't speak for the man, but given my understanding of his positions...
If, in some convoluted way, one were faced with the choice between death and purposely installing non-free software on one's own device, I expect RMS would consider you to be a victim and feel sorry for you, but recommend that of course you should do the thing that saves your life.
I would further expect - only slightly more weakly - that he'd take his own advice.
Particularly given that he's himself used a proprietary BIOS when there were no other options, for simple "ability to do computing" which is clearly less severe than preserving life (it's awfully hard to do the one without the other).
If, in some convoluted way, one were faced with the choice between death and purposely installing non-free software on one's own device, I expect RMS would consider you to be a victim and feel sorry for you, but recommend that of course you should do the thing that saves your life.
I would further expect - only slightly more weakly - that he'd take his own advice.
Particularly given that he's himself used a proprietary BIOS when there were no other options, for simple "ability to do computing" which is clearly less severe than preserving life (it's awfully hard to do the one without the other).