I would sign any petition to abolish hitpoints from games/RPGs.
Hitpoints are a specific example of a more general phenomenon: the numeric abstraction. If you are trying to model a complex system such as combat, the easiest way to do it is by assigning a bunch of numbers to broadly represent various aspects of the system. Hitpoints, attack, defense, damage, armor value, etc.
I don't blame PnP systems for doing this, as it was generally the most practical way to do it, and same for early video games. But we have pretty powerful hardware now, it's time to put it to use by having more complex simulations.
The big problem with purely numeric simulation is that it basically creates bland, boring combat systems (especially in action RPGs), where you are just essentially comparing two numbers, and the larger number wins. Bethesda games are a great example of this, as their "action" combat simply involves two parties whacking away at each other until the one with higher numbers wins.
If you go away from purely numeric systems, and for example have a system where a single blow can end the fight (ie realistic combat), suddenly combat becomes much more interesting, with blocking/parrying/avoidance/type of armor/type of weapon becoming very important, and it's no longer just a numerical comparison.