Nether Portal Kills Character When Exiting the Nether

When leaving the nether the character dies during the loading screen when they are unable to donor see anything. This has happened randomly on now 4 occasions. Each time, the character can be seen to take damage with no harm or danger present while standing within the opening of the portal by other characters present. This seems to have no specific trigger. The cause of death displays to the other players as "suffocated in a wall". Network connectivity was suggested as a possible issue, but this is odd to not disconnect from the server vs killing the character under this specific circumstance only. The common elements of the situation I experienced is as follows:

1. Exiting the nether using a portal built in the nether

2. Realm set to peaceful

Notification displays to other players character "suffocated in a wall".

1. Damage hits can be heard sometimes in the loading screen. 

1. Other players observe red flashing and damage sounds on the character standing in the portal with no danger near the character

2. Player loses XP, inventory, armor, & is teleported back to spawn bed.
   (once a player in my realm spawned to the original spawn point after experiencing this  but lost nothing. 

1. We do not have/never have had any mods or cheats activated.

2. This is a recent development.

In order to reduce the losses incurred in this unpredictable event, we have resorted to placing an enderchest inside the only portal entrance we will use now in order to strip off our armor and inventory items upon leaving. 

This does not enhance the enjoyment of the game. It's extremely distressing to have lost 2 sets of netherite and gold armor.