This episode appears to be based on several cases/incidents:
- The 1988 Marty James case.
- The 1980's & 1990's Dr. Jack Kevorkian (a.k.a. "Dr. Death") case. Dr. Kevorkian became famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a supporter of assisted suicide. He became most noted for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via euthanasia; he claims to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He famously said that "dying is not a crime." Between 1999 and 2007, Kevorkian served eight years of a 10-to-25-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. His trial was a lengthy one because of several acquittals and a mistrial. He was released on June 1, 2007, on parole due to good behavior. He died on June 3, 2011.
- The epidemic of assisted suicides of gay/bi men infected with HIV during the early AIDS epidemic in the United States.
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) and Josh Pais (Assistant M.E. Borak) also worked together on We, the Juries (2014) (episode 5.12) and on Lonelyville (2007) (episode 7.4).