It just shows how unoriginal the developers were.
In the original game, granted there were limited graphics, they had some wicked death scenes. Burning while staggering, cut in half, 2/3 of the chest cavity blown away, etc. Nothing close to that in FO3...just bodies exploding apart at the joints.
It goes back to the 2D vs 3D argument again. Things that are merely amusing in 2D with limited resolution, become horribly nasty and gross in 3D. Especially with the improved, more life-like graphics. In a 2D world, it's very easy to emotionally distance yourself from the action, but in 3D games our brains generally emphasize more and have a harder time treating it as fiction. You can simply get away with a lot more things in 2D then you can in 3D.
I imagine there are a bunch of mods on the FO3Nexus site dealing with this perk. Anything from toning it down (1% chance) while keeping the damage to disabling the effect entirely. Naturally, on the console, your only option is going to be reload from before you took that perk.