Currently work in PE so call me jaded. I get the viewpoint of many regarding PE firms but understand that there are a gazillion firms out there and only the shit heels are making the headlines. For whatever reason (I have my guesses), the PE firms focused on the medical industry seem to be having the most visible fuckups lately.
There is also a huge difference between a two man "PE" team and a full fledge team of investors. The two man team here is more like a family office than a typical PE environment. You don't really have any checks and balances with a 2 man team but when the investment team is 50+ professionals, you're going to have a ton of discussion and opinions before making stupid decisions. Stupid decisions result in both scenarios but considerably less in the latter.
I'll speak for our firm on the ethics and human side of the house - our investment philosophy is buy the people first, idea second. We require existing management to stick around for at least a year to ensure the business keep ticking, the culture stays in place, etc... Because ultimately, that's what we bought. We don't have strict playbooks for every investment, everything is tailored for each individual company. During COVID, when a lot of competitors to our companies were laying off people, we did not ask for layoffs at any one of our 20+ companies - we injected more capital to ensure everyone could make payroll. We aren't unique in this approach either. Many firms behave like this, we all, mostly, just don't make headlines.