Directed by Edwin Sherin
Written by Michael S Chernuchin & Jeremy R Littman
EMTs rush a woman in a gurney into a hospital room. The woman had been having cramps and had thrown up, but is now unconscious. An assistant calls for Dr. Alfredo Salinas. Salinas gives orders, but the ECG quickly flatlines. Salinas orders defibrillators to be used. They don't work. Salinas orders a Dr. Stevens to 'bag her,' but Stevens says she smells something. Stevens then collapses.
Logan arrives as workers in HAZMAT uniforms patrol the scene. He asks a uniformed officer about the victim, and she identifies her as Ann Bennett. Bennett, an elementary school teacher, threw up and collapsed in her classroom. The worker adds that the Health Department has quarantined the entire ER.
—Michael Logan
Salinas tells Briscoe that Bennett died. Briscoe asks about the smell, and Salinas says that it was cyanide. A technician shows up with Bennett's clothes, and Briscoe orders a poison analysis and blood tests to be done on them. Salinas tells Briscoe and Logan that the chest compressions forced the air out of Bennett's lungs; the cyanide fumes came with the air, and Stevens was knocked out. Logan recalls a similar case in California, and asks if he's remembering right.
—Alfredo Salinas
Bennett's body is taken away.
At the morgue, Logan complains to Rodgers that it will take too long for an autopsy. He says he can't wait five days. Rodgers says that Stevens was unconscious for twenty minutes and still hasn't fully recovered. Briscoe says that Rodgers has cut open sick people before, but Rodgers says that the lab is prepared for regular contagious diseases but not airborne poisons. She needs to get specialized equipment and help to actually perform the autopsy, and both the Health Department and HAZMAT have to get involved.
—Lennie Briscoe
Rodgers has no information for them.
Van Buren asks the detectives about Bennett's husband. Logan says that the husband, Nicholas, is an antiques dealer and is away and unreachable for the day. Briscoe thinks that it's probably just normal illness, but Van Buren says that something knocked out Stevens. Briscoe says that it might have just been Bennett's vomit, but Van Buren thinks an ER nurse could handle that. Logan says that Stevens smelled cyanide, but it will take a few days to be sure. Van Buren postulates that it could be suicide, but Logan thinks that cyanide is a painful way to go. Van Buren sends them to the school Bennett taught at.
Father Reynolds says he has no idea why someone would poison Bennett. He rambles as they get into Bennett's room, and then says that Bennett was losing weight and depressed, but didn't know what. Logan finds a Danish on Bennett's desk, but Reynolds says that it's not from the cafeteria (which wasn't open until after Bennett collapsed). Briscoe finds a soda can, and Reynolds verifies that it also came from off campus.
A technician, Ryan, says that nothing poisonous was in the soda. Specifically, there was no cyanide.
"Prune, if I'm not mistaken."
—Lennie Briscoe and Ryan
It didn't contain cyanide either. Logan comes in and says that Nicholas finally got back, so he and Briscoe go to see him at his apartment.
Nicholas says he heard over the radio that someone from the school had been poisoned. He called in at the next gas station and found out what happened to Ann. He resignedly shows the detectives a lurid newspaper headline about his wife's death.
—Nicholas Bennett
He introduces the cops to his daughter, Lynn. Then he asks why the cops are involved and why he can't see her. Logan tells him that his wife may have been poisoned, and Briscoe says they need an autopsy. Nicholas says that Ann died of breast cancer, not poison. Logan asks for her doctor, and Nicholas directs them to Dr. Nancy Haas.
At a pay phone, Logan argues with someone to not put him on hold. In the car, Briscoe muses that it would be weird if Nicholas lied about Ann having cancer. Logan says that, if she were that ill, she should have been in the hospital and not at work. Briscoe says that some people just don't like doctors or hospitals. Logan finally gets through on the phone and says he wants to talk to Haas. The person on the other end says that's not possible, then hangs up. Logan tells Briscoe that, while Ann was about to die, not only was Nicholas buying antiques, but Haas was on the lecture circuit, and won't be back for an unknown amount of time. Briscoe wonders who else they can talk to.
One of Nicholas's employees says that he didn't know Ann was that sick. When the detectives allude to Nicholas maybe poisoning Ann, the employee says Nicholas wouldn't do that. He adds that Nicholas has suffered enough. Briscoe says that the employee could help clear Nicholas, but the employee doesn't see how, since he didn't know him that well. He does say that the Bennetts were happy, despite Ann's cancer. Logan says it's odd that Nicholas was away when Ann died, but the employee doesn't think so. He says that Nicholas had a tough job running the antiques dealership. Briscoe points out that the store is deserted and the employee isn't doing anything; the employee responds that two people were recently laid off and the store is struggling. Logan asks if business isn't good, then, and the employee says that his paycheck bounced the other night.
A banker says that Nicholas Bennett used to be a great customer, but recently ran into trouble. They terminated his credit line a year prior because he was embezzling. Nicholas claimed that he was paying for his wife's doctor bills, but the bank didn't care. Logan points out that private schools, like the one Ann taught at, usually offer health insurance to employees. The cops go to the school, where a secretary tells them that Ann had to have a complete physical before being allowed to get on the school's group insurance policy. The cancer was detected then, and thus was a pre-existing condition, so the insurance didn't cover it. Logan asks why Ann wasn't covered by Nicholas's health insurance, but the secretary says that he didn't have one — he'd been using hers when she was at her old job, and once she left, neither of them had insurance.
Outside, Briscoe decides that he supports public health care.
—Lennie Briscoe
Logan notes that Ann was not only sick but was bankrupting Nicholas. Briscoe argues that it would make little sense to kill the terminally ill Ann. Logan references an aunt who lived ten years after being diagnosed, and wonders if Nicholas didn't just want to prevent the huge medical bills from continuing for a decade or more. Briscoe says that Ann might not have been as resilient.
"Maybe nobody fed my aunt cyanide."
—Lennie Briscoe and Michael Logan
Logan still thinks that Nicholas might have killed Ann to save his bank account.
In the police station, Logan says he sympathizes with Nicholas, who (he says) worked his whole life to build a business and family, only to have his wife get cancer. He tries to provoke Nicholas by saying that doctors charge too much and are the real criminals, but Nicholas just wants to see his wife's body. Logan says they'll release the body when they determine the cause of death. Nicholas says that the whole thing is insane; he wouldn't kill Ann, he says, even despite his money woes. When questioned, he admits that the treatments cost around $100,000 so far. Logan notes the large sum, but Nicholas loses his patience.
—Nicholas Bennett
Logan wonders if Nicholas just wanted to spare Ann the lingering, painful death of cancer. Nicholas just says that real suffering is him telling Lynn that her mother is dead.
Logan tells Van Buren that he thinks Nicholas did it, but that he won't confess. Nicholas still says Ann died of breast cancer. Van Buren asks why no one told her that Ann had breast cancer. Logan says that it doesn't matter if Ann was poisoned. Van Buren responds that cyanide was an ingredient in a now-banned cancer treatment, Laetrile. Briscoe asks where Van Buren learned this.
—Anita Van Buren
Logan says that it's common knowledge that Laetrile doesn't work, but Van Buren thinks Ann might have just been desperate. Briscoe points out that they don't know for sure that Ann had any cyanide at all, but Van Buren says that the toxin report just came back, and it was positive for cyanide.
The detectives interview Nancy Haas in her large house. She has just returned from a week on the lecture circuit. Haas says that Ann knew she was dying, but lived longer than anticipated. When Logan asks why Ann wasn't hospitalized, Haas says that Ann wanted to die with dignity.
—Nancy Haas
She says that the medical establishment is uninterested in looking for healthier alternatives to surgery and radiation therapy. Logan is unimpressed.
—Michael Logan
Haas says that everyone dies, but she's concerned with improving her patients' quality of life. Briscoe asks how she does that, and Haas responds that she uses a metabolic therapy of her own development. She claims that it acts as a pain reliever and can also sometimes slow down cancer. Logan says that this therapy sounds like Laetrile.
—Nancy Haas
Briscoe asks to see her records, and Haas says that she'll turn them over if Nicholas allows it. She then ends the interview.
Nicholas vents about the detectives' latest theory, saying that Haas didn't kill Ann. He maintains that she died of cancer. Logan says that cyanide was in her blood. Nicholas, annoyed, responds that the cops should just search Haas' office then. Briscoe argues that they need probable cause, and asks if Ann ever said anything that might indicate that Haas was giving Ann illegal drugs like Laetrile. Nicholas recalls an incident from two years prior, when after a long, relaxing vacation, Ann finally told Nicholas about the lump indicating that she had breast cancer. She refused to let Nicholas go with her to see her biopsy results, and never discussed her cancer or treatments with him again.
—Nicholas Bennett
He can't tell them anything that would let them search Haas' office. He does, however, agree to authorize the release of his wife's records.
At the precinct, Logan muses that Ann saw Haas twice a week for nine months, and so should have realized that her treatments didn't work. Briscoe says that Haas told Ann it was too late for anything to work and the treatments were just to gain time and alleviate pain. Logan says he'd have the operation anyway, but Van Buren is skeptical.
—Anita Van Buren
Van Buren says that breasts are important to a woman's self esteem, and that many women are understandably reluctant to have a mastectomy. Logan then asks Van Buren what she would do if she got cancer; would she rely on folk remedies such as lucky talismans? Van Buren says that she would instead take time off to spend it with her family. Briscoe, bringing the conversation back to Bennett, says that she kept working and thus might not have known how sick she was. Van Buren points out that Haas has a good motive to have everyone think Ann died of cancer and not from her medication. She sends the detectives to see Ann's previous doctor.
Dr. Alan Friedland says that he performed a lumpectomy and radiation therapy on Ann two years prior. He recommended a mastectomy, but Ann didn't want to lose her breast. Ann took a gamble by skipping the surgery, and lost — Friedland found a stage 3 tumor with cancer in the lymph nodes in Ann's breast nine months prior. Logan asks how bad that is, and Friedland says that survival was definitely possible, provided Ann got proper treatment. The treatment, however, would include the mastectomy and also additional chemotherapy. Ann wanted another opinion. Briscoe thinks this was reasonable, but Friedland disagrees.
"Mrs. Bennett didn't have a tummy ache, Detective. She needed the surgery."
—Lennie Briscoe and Alan Friedland
Logan says that Haas seemed to think surgery was unnecessary, but Friedland becomes upset when he hears her name. He tells the detectives to talk to some of his former patients who chose Haas instead of having the surgery he (Friedland) prescribed. Briscoe asks where they are.
—Alan Friedland
He calls Haas a quack, and says that he would have closed down Haas years ago, but only the State Medical Board Cancer Society has that power, and they claim not to be able to touch Haas either.
A secretary at the Cancer Society lists Haas' prestigious academic qualifications, including a PhD from Columbia and a Master's from Stanford. Logan notes that Haas never went to medical school, and the secretary says that Haas isn't a medical doctor.
—Secretary
Her institute is a business, not a hospital, and isn't regulated in the same way. The secretary says they shut down people who promise cures and don't deliver, but Haas is careful to avoid specifically promising a cure. Rather, she just says she has an 'alternative.' Logan is surprised that Haas can evade being shut down due to semantics, so the secretary responds that the Cancer Society prints up flyers and goes on TV denouncing treatments like those Haas gives, but they can't legally force her to close so long as she never promises anyone a cure.
Logan tells Kincaid that Haas is selling poison, but Kincaid points out that just because a treatment isn't FDA-approved doesn't make it poisonous. Briscoe thinks they have enough for a search warrant to search Haas' office and find out exactly what she's been selling. Kincaid says that Haas is too wealthy and famous to just barge in on. Logan says that Bennett had cyanide in her system, but Kincaid knows that there was only a trace. She is adamant that they need a full autopsy to determine what killed Ann. She gets a phone call and sighs. Nicholas is filing a motion to force the state to release Ann's body.
Nicholas's lawyer, Charlie Hatcher, says that Ann is being ridiculed in the tabloids. They are mocking her untimely death and joking about how no one will touch her body to bury her or autopsy her. Kincaid says that the DA's office can't do anything about that, but Hatcher says that Nicholas is entitled to mourn. Kincaid argues that there is evidence that Ann may not have died from natural causes and that the state is legally entitled to perform an autopsy, but Hatcher points out that it's already been four days. Judge Douglas Spivack agrees and asks what the holdup is. Kincaid references Stevens's collapse due to fumes, but Spivack says that Rodgers should find a way to conduct the autopsy anyway, or admit incompetence and resign. He says that Ann must be autopsied within 24 hours.
Rodgers, wearing a full HAZMAT suit, prepares to remove her suit and go to meet the detectives and Kincaid. The detectives gripe about the early hour (the autopsy concluded at 5 AM). Rodgers exits, sweaty and weary, but with the autopsy reports. Ann died of liver cancer. The cyanide in her system wasn't enough to kill her. As for Stevens, Rodgers thinks she fainted due to hysteria caused by Ann's spazzing and the prior incident in California where nurses smelled poisonous fumes exuding from a corpse.
—Elizabeth Rodgers
Kincaid knocks on a man's office, and he invites her in without looking. He turns and recognizes her as Kincaid, and she recognizes him as Jack McCoy. Kincaid says that Schiff told her that McCoy had requested her by name, and McCoy confirms this, saying that Kincaid has an excellent reputation and that he asked for her as soon as he heard that Stone had retired (see: Old Friends (episode)). Kincaid is skeptical, saying that McCoy also has a reputation. She says she's heard that McCoy has had romantic relationships with his assistants in the past. McCoy says that he's only had three such relationships, including one that resulted in a marriage (since ended).
"That would be helpful."
—Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid
McCoy says that all the relationships were mutual, and he won't apologize for finding his coworkers fun to be around. Kincaid says she just wanted to be clear that she's not romantically interested in him, and McCoy says that he gets the message.
"Of course."
—Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid
McCoy gives her a warrant to search Haas' office. Kincaid doesn't know why, since Ann died of cancer, but McCoy wants to see if Haas was selling Laetrile. Kincaid argues that Rodgers was clear that Haas didn't kill Bennett, but McCoy cuts her off. If Haas is selling Laetrile, he argues, it's a felony, whatever happened to Bennett. Kincaid thinks that it's too harsh to jail Haas for selling Laetrile, but McCoy says that it must be against the law for a reason.
In the toxicology lab, Ryan tells Kincaid that the metabolic diet has grains, fruits, and vegetables, and isn't really anything special or illegal. Kincaid asks about the cyanide, and Ryan says that it's actually a cyanogenetic compound that occurs in apricot seeds, which are in the formula. The supplements aren't Laetrile, but they use the same basic theory. Ryan describes the basic concept — an enzyme in cyanide attaches to cancer cells, while everything else in the formula works to 'detoxify' the body. The FDA doesn't think there's anything to Laetrile or any of its derivations, including Haas' products. Kincaid asks if the supplements are harmful.
—Ryan
Haas and her lawyer, Gwen Young, talk to McCoy and Kincaid. Young is dismissive of the charges, saying that it's nonsensical to lock up people for selling fruit. McCoy says that this particular fruit product is banned by the FDA. Young points out that everything Haas sells is freely available in health stores. McCoy doesn't care.
—Jack McCoy
Young says the charges are minor, but McCoy threatens jail time. Young and McCoy bicker more, and then Haas accuses McCoy of being on the American Medical Association's payroll. She accuses the AMA members of taking long vacations to tropical islands to discuss how to evade income tax while she tries to save lives. McCoy says that those doctors, frauds or not, follow the law. Haas admits to using apricot seeds, but not as a main ingredient. She claims that they are only a catalytic agent (something to speed up the chemical reactions). Kincaid asks why Haas didn't tell the cops, but Haas says that they only asked if she was selling Laetrile, and she maintains that she is not.
Young asks why McCoy cares so much; he gets gung-ho over convicting violent felons, but it's odd, she thinks, that he objects to selling fruit. McCoy says what he objects to is the selling of false hope. Haas says that McCoy doesn't understand the science well enough to be able to claim that her treatments don't work. Young offers fifty hours of community service as a suitable punishment, but McCoy rejects it. Young and Haas leave.
Later, Kincaid tells McCoy that Haas' treatments didn't hurt anyone. McCoy acknowledges this is true in terms of physical injury, but wonders about financial damage. If the treatments didn't work but Haas claimed they did, and she made money off of it, she was committing larceny. Kincaid points out that, for this to be true, Haas had to explicitly promise a cure, and they don't know that she did. McCoy says they should find out. When Kincaid protests that Nicholas Bennett said already that he doesn't know, McCoy tells her to subpoena her patient list and talk to her other patients. Schiff nods in agreement.
At Marilee's Boutique, a saleswoman tells Kincaid her story. She's a patient of Haas', and doesn't care that the diet isn't FDA approved. Like Haas, she thinks that the AMA is too slow to adopt new techniques even if those techniques would dramatically help their patients. Kincaid asks if Haas promised a cure, but the saleswoman guesses that Kincaid could use a 'yes' response to go after Haas. Kincaid admits this. The saleswoman shows Kincaid a black dress and says that she's wearing it to a high school reunion; without Haas, the woman claims, she wouldn't be wearing it.
—Saleswoman
Kincaid talks to another patient, Abigail Hurst, who had just been told by a doctor that she'd need to have a mastectomy when a friend recommended Haas.
—Abigail Hurst
Hurst says that Haas promised to cure her at every session for at least six months. She adds that Haas had shown her medical journals from Europe, and that Haas had claimed that the American medical bureaucracy was too slow. Kincaid asks if Hurst is still taking the treatment, but Hurst admits that she is not. Her husband became nervous and demanded that she see another doctor, who performed the mastectomy. Hurst muses bitterly about how unpleasant it was. She cites that pictures were taken of her while she was naked on the operating table, and a camera was used to broadcast the operation to a TV so that medical students could watch. She also disliked that a male doctor blithely told her that everything would be okay.
—Abigail Hurst
Kincaid tells Hurst that she's at least alive, but Hurst says that her husband seems to have lost all desire for her.
Kincaid gives McCoy a list of the patients. She marked the ones she talked to with a checkmark. Of those, most said that Haas only promised an alternative, but a dozen — marked with a double checkmark on the list — said they were promised a cure. Furthermore, Kincaid isn't sure she believes the patients who said Haas never promised to cure cancer; they may have been coached by Haas. McCoy says that they have a solid fraud case. Kincaid is still uncomfortable with it, arguing that Haas would serve the public better in a lab than in jail. She's not even sure if it's bad that Haas is lying to them.
"Who is fleecing her patients."
"Maybe her patients want to get fleeced."
—Claire Kincaid and Jack McCoy
Kincaid says that reality is a lot more complex than the strict rules of the Penal Code. McCoy asks where Haas fits in within that complexity, and Kincaid says that the women Haas treats may well live better lives than the ones who undergo mastectomies, which Kincaid refers to as 'mutilation.' McCoy asks if snake oil could really be better than conventional surgery, but Kincaid says there might be something to the treatment. The AMA, she argues, doesn't move quickly enough on women's health issues.
—Claire Kincaid
McCoy says that Haas isn't even a real doctor, but Kincaid points out that Louis Pasteur wasn't an MD either. McCoy then asks why some names on Kincaid's list had no checkmarks. He wonders if those people died, and Kincaid has to admit that this is true. McCoy notes that there's a lot of unchecked names, and remarks that Haas has a bad track record. Kincaid protests that Haas offers women a choice, but McCoy says that it's not a fair choice.
—Jack McCoy
McCoy has to admit that even he doesn't know the answer to that question. He tells Kincaid to send Bennett's medical records to a local hospital so they can see. He cautions her, though, by saying that if Bennett died even one day before doctors thought she would, he'll charge Haas with murder.
A doctor tells Kincaid that Haas is brilliant and, once upon a time, did real research.
"She drives an expensive car. The big Mercedes, I think it is."
—Claire Kincaid and the doctor
Kincaid says that her doctor is wealthy too, but the other doctor says that Haas kills patients to get her money. She says that Haas charges $75,000 for treatments that could be mixed up easily in a kitchen. Kincaid protests that the medicine was, according to Ryan, harmless, but the other doctor says that Haas is still harming desperate patients by persuading them to take her diet instead of conventional surgery. Kincaid asks about Bennett, and the doctor says that Bennett was doomed once the cancer metastasized to the liver, but by talking Haas out of surgery and chemo, Haas still accelerated Bennett's death by around five years at the minimum.
—Doctor
Haas is arrested for the murder of Bennett.
Schiff yells at McCoy for overstepping and arresting Haas without consulting him. He thinks that the case against Haas is larceny at most. McCoy says that preventing people from extending their lives, to him, is the same as killing them. Schiff points out that it isn't what he thinks that matters; it's what the law says.
"She acted plenty."
—Adam Schiff and Jack McCoy
McCoy says that the lying was an act. Schiff points out that, with Bennett dead, there's no evidence of Haas lying to her. McCoy says that he can set it up as a pattern based on the testimonies of the other patients. He insists that Haas murdered Bennett and possibly others.
McCoy and Young argue before Judge Aldo Ianello about the charges, as Young as filed a motion to dismiss. Young wants the charges dismissed since Haas didn't commit a criminal act. McCoy says that Haas shortened people's lives. Young uses the analogy that one can watch a drowning man die without being culpable of anything, but McCoy says that, if one ties a rope around that man's legs, then one committed a crime. Ianello disagrees, saying that he doesn't see the rope in this case. McCoy argues that Haas promised Bennett a cancer cure.
—Gwen Young
McCoy says the other patients will testify. Young says this is inadmissible as prior bad acts, but McCoy says it shows a pattern.
—Jack McCoy
Ianello quashes the motion to dismiss that Young filed, but says he won't let McCoy bring up any patients besides Bennett.
Kincaid tells McCoy that, since Bennett is dead and none of Haas' remaining patients can testify, they have no proof that Haas lied to them. McCoy is annoyed at Kincaid's pessimism about their case.
—Jack McCoy
Kincaid argues that innumerable people believe in holistic and homeopathic medicine.
"Those who die needlessly, yes."
—Claire Kincaid and Jack McCoy
Kincaid says that McCoy isn't qualified to say that, and that she finds it intrusive that the government can decide what medical procedures women can and can't have. McCoy, as he begins to remove his suit and tie, says that this isn't a privacy issue, but McCoy says that he's male and so isn't negatively effected (and thus doesn't notice) by the government's regulation of healthcare. McCoy says that it's not the right time to debate Kincaid's feminism, which he calls 'latent.' Kincaid objects that there's nothing latent about her feminism, and that privacy isn't a feminist issue. She says that society constantly demands that women be sexually attractive, and that it's unfair to then turn around and say that they have to have mastectomies. McCoy says that he thinks Kincaid is being too sensitive, but Kincaid responds that padded bras are incredibly popular for a reason.
—Claire Kincaid
McCoy sarcastically snaps that she's right, that all men are pigs, and that they deserve damnation. Kincaid objects that she didn't say or mean that. She says that, if Haas did kill Bennett, she wants Haas to do time. Changing clothes behind the side door, McCoy argues that Kincaid would like it better if Haas were male, and would be much more eager to see Haas punished, because that would fit in with Kincaid's worldview better.
—Jack McCoy
Finished changing into his casual clothes, McCoy tiredly asks if they can finally go get a drink.
In court, Friedland testifies that he told Bennett that she needed a mastectomy, but that she saw Haas for a second opinion and then decided not to have the surgery. He adds that he told her that she needed surgery to survive, but that Bennett didn't change her mind. McCoy asks if Bennett would still be alive if she'd had surgery, and Friedland cites statistics showing that Bennett had a 70% chance of living for five years, and would almost certainly still be alive had she had the surgery.
On cross-examination, Young asks if anyone who refuses traditional medical treatment is committing suicide, and Friedland has to say that this isn't always true; sometimes even surgery or other hospital treatment cannot save a patient's life. Young says that Friedland just said that Bennett's treatment was curable, but that he'd have to be a Nobel prize winner to be able to determine that. McCoy objects and Young withdraws the statement. Young has Friedland testify that surgery and chemotherapy would cause pain and other ailments such as hair loss and weight gain.
"Oh, it is to the dignity. Thank you."
—Alan Friedland and Gwen Young
Leonard Hurst testifies that Abigail saw Haas for four months or so. McCoy asks how much money he paid Haas, and Young suddenly asks to approach. She wants to have the question stricken because it relates to a pattern of crime, and Ianello already struck all that evidence. McCoy says he is trying to offer a motive. Ianello sides with McCoy, but cautions him to stay very narrowly focused on the motive and not allude to other patients. He then tells Leonard to answer the question. Leonard testifies that he paid Haas $25,000 up front, then $5,000 monthly. McCoy calculates this to be a total of $50,000 or so as of the time of the trial, but Leonard says that this isn't necessarily the whole amount. They cut the treatment short when Abigail went to see an actual MD, but Haas is insisting that they pay the full amount, so he and Haas are litigating how much he really owes her.
—Leonard Hurst
For her cross, Young asked Leonard how his sex life is. He doesn't answer. Young then asks how his sex life was when Abigail was seeing Haas. Leonard snaps that this isn't relevant.
—Leonard Hurst
Young ends her cross-examination.
Nicholas testifies that Ann was so disturbed after the lumpectomy that she needed a tranquilizer to go to sleep. She remained depressed and upset until she began seeing Haas. After meeting Haas, Ann began thinking about the future again. McCoy says this implies that she thought she was cured, but Young objects and McCoy withdraws. Nicholas testifies that he paid Haas $75,000, and McCoy ends his questioning. Young first verifies that Ann was in a support group for women with breast cancer, and then asks if the group, rather than something Haas said, might have changed Ann's attitude. Nicholas doesn't know. He has to admit that Ann never told him that Haas promised to cure her.
In Schiff's office, Kincaid says that Young created reasonable doubt in the jury's mind, and Schiff predicts that Young will move to dismiss. McCoy responds that he's not done with his case. He wants to redirect Nicholas. When asked why, he says that Nicholas only testified that Ann never told him that Haas promised a cure. He never mentioned if Haas herself told him that she could cure his wife. McCoy thinks this would be the logical next question for Young to ask; that she didn't indicates to him that she wouldn't have liked the answer. He asks the others what Nicholas would say if Young asked him if Haas had promised him a cure for his wife's illness, and Kincaid thinks that he'd just say that he never actually spoke to Haas, as he's claimed all along. McCoy says that this would shore up any motion to dismiss that Young files. He doubts that Young would forget something like this. He then argues that the only other explanation is that Young knew that Nicholas would lie if asked that question, and she didn't want to suborn perjury. Schiff asks if McCoy means to say that Nicholas actually talked to Haas, and McCoy nods. Schiff wonders why Nicholas would perjure himself (by saying that he never spoke to Haas) to protect the person who let his wife die, and McCoy has to admit that he doesn't know yet.
McCoy tells Nicholas that he'll be testifying again, and his testimony will decide the case. He adds that, for Haas to be convicted, Nicholas will have to truthfully testify about his conversation with Haas. Nicholas still claims that no such conversation took place. McCoy says he's lying. Nicholas gets angry, but McCoy says he doesn't understand Bennett.
—Jack McCoy
Nicholas says that Ann wasn't McCoy's wife, but Kincaid wonders why it is that the lawyers care more about convicting Haas than Nicholas. McCoy tells Kincaid to step outside for a minute, and she goes. He then tells Nicholas that they both know the truth. Nicholas wanted to believe Haas too, since he didn't want his wife to have the mastectomy either — he wanted her to remain the same as when he married her. Nicholas asks what McCoy wants. McCoy says that Haas lied to both of the Bennetts and is relying on Nicholas's complicity and guilt to stay silent.
—Jack McCoy
Nicholas says that they trusted Haas. He begins to cry, saying that he loved Ann.
In a conference room, Young says that she's winning the case, but McCoy says that Nicholas is now willing to testify and has enough proof to convict Haas for second-degree murder. Young asks if Nicholas is changing his story, but McCoy points out that he never testified about whether he heard Haas promise him anything — it wouldn't be a change. Haas complains that McCoy talks of her like a swampland-salesman, but McCoy tells her not to flatter herself. Haas vents about how the medical establishment and government don't fund breast cancer research or treatments and that they do all they can to ignore the illness, even though so many women are afflicted. Kincaid says that Haas also seems to have given up on her patients. Haas tells Kincaid to wait until it happens to her, and then says that women are tired of officials and doctors who have pretty words and nothing else to offer them.
"Their condescension doesn't come at $75,000 a pop."
—Nancy Haas and Jack McCoy
Haas says she's at least looking for a cure, which she claims is more than the establishment is doing. McCoy says that she should have told that to her patients instead of claiming that she already had one. After a whispered conference, Haas and Young agree to first-degree manslaughter. McCoy asks Kincaid for her opinion, and she says that Haas should serve the maximum punishment.
Later, McCoy says that Haas got fifteen years in jail. He muses that she'll be selling her fellow inmates fake cures too. Kincaid says that Haas will need the money because of the civil suits she'll surely be facing, but McCoy doubts that there will be civil suits.
"Fear?"
"Denial."
—Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid
Kincaid says that she checked and found out that McCoy has only had three female assistants. McCoy just comments that it was Kincaid who wanted to know the truth, then leaves.
Tropes in this episode
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Haas seems like a professional doctor who's trying to help women with breast cancer. In reality, Haas preys on desperate women who are willing to pay anything for another option that cures their cancer without surgery; this is what makes Haas so despicable.
- Bitter Almonds: Subverted. Despite the almond smell, it is not the cyanide in Ann Bennett's what killed her, but her liver cancer.
- Fatal Flaw: Pride, fear, and desperation. The doctor Claire meets with puts it best, some women struggle to find meaning in life after undergoing breast surgery, feeling "undesirable" in the eyes of their husbands who may refuse to sleep with them post-surgery. We see this with Abigail Hurst and her husband, showing the emotional toll of these experiences even though surgery is what kept them alive. Exploiting the vulnerability of these women, Haas preys on their desperation by offering supposed alternatives to traditional treatments for breast cancer. Charging a whopping $75,000 per treatment, Haas capitalizes on the fears and hopes of these patients who wish to avoid mastectomy.
- I Reject Your Reality: As they're heading home, Kincaid says that Haas will need all the money she can get for the civil suits she'll be facing from all the people she screwed over, but McCoy doubts there will be any. He says the same thing that drew people to Haas will keep them off the stand: denial, refusing to accept that a woman could take advantage of other women.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After selling a phony "alternative" to women suffering from breast cancer, which got them all killed for refusing actual medical advice and treatments, Dr. Haas gets fifteen years in jail.
- Loophole Abuse: Haas is a grade-A quack, but the problem is that no one can do anything about her fake cures. As she runs a business and not a hospital, the rules she must abide by differ from those of a medical facility. The secretary of the Cancer Society stated that they take action against those who promise cures and fail to deliver. However, Haas avoids this by not explicitly ensuring a cure but offering an "alternative." The secretary explains that while the Cancer Society may publicly denounce treatments like those supplied by Haas, they can't do anything about her as long as she refrains from making false promises of a cure to her patients.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the case of Gloria Ramierez
, a school teacher whose improvised remedy to help her cervical cancer made medical workers pass out when she was brought to the hospital. - Smells of Death: A doctor faints while treating Bennett. It turns out to be a hysterical reaction to the patient's spasms and a case where nurses were affected by noxious fumes from a patient.
- Snake Oil Salesman: Dr. Haas sells her patients some "natural cure" which she apparently claims will cure the cancer without surgery.
