This episode appears to be based on the 1992 Dr. Cecil Jacobson case. Jacobson operated a fertility clinic in Virginia, and in March of 1992 was sentenced to five years in prison after it was learned that he inseminated seventy-five of his female patients with his own sperm. Jacobson had led the women to believe they were being inseminated with the sperm of anonymous donors who shared many physical characteristics with their own husbands. He also led many of his patients to believe they had become pregnant and miscarried when in fact they had never actually been pregnant.
HGC stands for Human chorionic gonadotropin which is a hormone produced by the placenta after a fertilized egg implants on the endometrium (the inner layer of the uterine wall). This is the hormone that most home pregnancy tests detect. Its purpose is to signal the ovaries to produce higher levels than normal of the hormone progesterone during the first trimester, which in turn causes a thick lining of blood vessels to develop in the uterus to supply the placenta with the extra blood and nutrients it needs to develop fully in order to accommodate the ever increasing needs of the developing embryo.
George Dzundza, who was in the original line-up of Law and Order, played Dr Cecil Jacobson (upon which this episode is based) in the 1994 movie The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story (1994).
Mark Blum has played three different characters over the course of the series:
- Episode 3.16 Jurisdiction (1993) - A.D.A. Frank Lazar.
- Episode 5.15 Seed (1995) - Michael Aronson.
- Episode 9.5 Agony (1998) - Frank Lazar.
- Episode 20.5 Dignity (2009) - Expert Doctor.
David Margulies has played four different characters during the course of the series:
- Episode 1.13 A Death in the Family (1991) - Simpson.
- Episode 3.20 Securitate (1993) - Tommy Zanescu.
- Episode 5.15 Seed (1995) - Dr. Jordan Delbert.
- Episode 15.11 Fixed (2004) - Dr. Jack Clayburg.