Hacking wp_die to send email

Hello.

For a while now, my blog has been crashing out due to various db connectivity issues and a problem with commenting.

When this happens, the users get fairly ugly wp_die error messages, and I, as the webmaster, get to know nothing.

I’d like to hack wp_die (directly, ‘cos there doesn’t seem to be a pluggable override) to send an email to me when it gets called.

My questions are –

Any reason why I can’t/shouldn’t do this?

What is the name of the function that WordPress uses to send its emails. I’d rather use existing functionality if I can, but I can’t find the functions.