Scalping was not in itself fatal, though it was most commonly inflicted on the gravely wounded or the dead.
Still, one of many reasons I am glad to live in the time period and country I do. Though also a reminder of how close in our history America is to genocide:
on August 8, 1722, Massachusetts put a bounty on native families, paying 100 pounds sterling for the scalps of male Indians aged 12 and over, and 50 pounds sterling for women and children.