What krustofskie says is very true.
Here is the other side, if you were wondering... You can remove leaves at any time whether or not they are dying. People remove them to keep from shading the rest of the plant, however LST is the WAAAAAY better option. I've heard you can remove up to 50% of the leaves at any given time on a plant and it will heal. It could possibly shock it, or turn it hermie... Also, like Krustofskie said, the leaves are the powerhouse for the plant, so removing them will def stunt growth and cause smaller buds. But the plant will grow. I didn't LST and just removed leaves all the way to the base of the stalk, just to keep the plant from being shaded. I did this the whole first month of veg.
Here are a few pictures of that plant before and after. It's around 1 week and 5 days till harvest of this plant...
Also, as a side note... There were no nutes used during the whole time of this experiment. I tore off fan leaves ever since the start, and only watered when dry. I know it's small, but it was an experiment to prove that it could be done. I will only LST from now on.