Please note: this was tested twice after it happened while mining on an SMP server running 15w47c.
After dying, there is a partial inventory loss. The first time I was caving, and got killed by and Endermen. I was able to get back to the cave in under two minutes. I believe that the item loss occurred due to me being in the proximity of a wall. I went into GM3 to attempt to find any items that may have moved through walls, but was unable to find them.
After that, with minimal items in my inventory (chest, leggings, weapon, pick, and three stacks of building blocks, I was able to jump off of a cliff and die (near my bed). I ran right back and lost my pick and one stack of building blocks, as well as the leggings.
I repeated this again and lost more items. Each time I scoured the area for the items (assuming the "explosion" sent them flying somewhere).
Other people on my server also reported losing items upon death.
I can confirm this behavior, I can go back to where i've been killed by a zombie or Skele and some of my stuff is missing , (killed right at spawn or near enough to it) stranger is that the creature that killed me is sometimes missing too