Tell him stop trying to skirt around the rules that make them a one use item.
As far as being impaled, you would need to have specific ability that mentioned such an event. Otherwise, I would treat such an attack as a coup-de-grace, which is likely to kill them. If the character can still move and act uninhibitied, they probably aren't impaled.
Regardless of all that, I wouldn't allowing healing to be performed on that wound (that amount of hp damage) until the object impaling the character was removed.
Edit: Just searched the PRD for "impale" and found impaling critical. If this is the ability that caused the character to be "impaled", yes let him heal, but it doesn't change anything else. So if they're healed for 8 hp they're healed for 8 hp, but it doesn't remove the weapon or do anything else. If they only lost 8 hp, then they are healed to full.
Hi, if someone is impaled on a sword and I cast cure light wounds or some such spell are they healed to full?
If they are, which I think they are, what happens when the sword is removed, do they take damage or does their wound just close?
One of my players wants to know if there's a way to cause ability damage to himself so that he can stop Bandages of Rapid Recovery from every being used up.
So basically he would have to have his ability damage at -3 to one ability score before either midnight or when he went to sleep every night, so that when it heals him for 2 ability damage he wakes up with only -1 ability damage and they aren't used up, or have something that gives him permanent ability damage so that it wouldn't heal and use up bandages of rapid recovery.
Help?
Its one of the conceits of the system. When you hit someone with an attack you arent 'impaling' them, you are just wearing them down, maybe with minor cuts or wounds. The only thing that might count as impaling is either the killing blow, or a critical hit. Either way, your sword doesnt stay in there unless you have some ability (feat or class ability) to keep it there.
And yea just tell the player to stop trying to skirt the rules about the bandages.