Gideon Blake dies of cyanide poisoning in a restaurant. The detectives find it suspicious that the deceased, who claimed to be a psychic medium, was working with Dr. Beth Allison; a respected pediatric oncologist. It emerges Gideon was a serial con artist who previously operated a real estate investment scam. Allison was one of his victims and this gives her a motive for murder. When she's found to have tested the poison on a squirrel, she is arrested.
Allison's lawyer puts forward an insanity defense. But at trial, Allison insists she'd never even met Gideon at the time of the investment scam - her accountant signed off on it. Under persistent questioning from McCoy, she completely breaks down on the stand. She sobs that she has watched many children die and been unable to save them. Gideon told her he could see her dead patients and that they were in heaven, so she killed him because she thought he could make the children happy. McCoy realizes that she really does believe what she's saying. But, since she still knew it was wrong to kill, she can't be acquitted under an insanity defense. He agrees a plea with Allison's lawyer for her to serve time in a private hospital until a panel of experts certify her safe to leave.
This episode contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: The victim had cheated many people of their money.
- Bitter Almonds: The smell of these alerts the police and CSU to cyanide poisoning.
- Con Man: Gideon was one, and Allison fell prey to two of his various scams.
- Death of a Child: Allison's sister died at age 13. This caused Allison to become a children's oncologist, where children dying is a normal part of her life. She mentions the first names of a few of these children in her trial.
- Double-Meaning Title: Refers to Allison's compassion for her patients, and McCoy's for Allison.
- Driven to Suicide: One witness testifies that her husband killed himself due to losing all his money to Gideon's scheme.
- Everyone Has Standards: After McCoy hears Allison's testimony, he can't bring himself to put her in jail and immediately goes to make a plea bargain with her lawyer, so that she can instead be treated in a private hospital.
- Insanity Defence: What the defense case rests on. It eventually ends up being subverted; Allison knew that it was wrong to kill and therefore her actions don't meet the legal definition of insanity.
- Shout-Out: A federal agent compares Gideon's real estate scam to the plot of The Producers.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Gideon died because someone added cyanide to his hot sauce.
- Title Drop: Southerlyn does this at the end.
