I’d normally agree with you but I don’t think they were trying to fool the audience in this case. It was more about showing Spock’s emotional reaction.
Still, there’s better ways of showing that than the almost dying trope.
spoiler
Nurse Chapel is in TOS - so there wasn’t really any risk that she was going to die here.
The big problem with the joke here is it’s totally the wrong moment. They’ve disobeyed orders and “stolen” the enterprise but haven’t actually gotten away yet… don’t just sit there messing around!