This episode appears to be based on the 1980's and 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.
There are portraits of an unknown man hanging on the walls outside of both the D.A.'s office and E.A.D.A.'s office while Branch and others are in office. However, when Jack McCoy takes over, the portraits are gone, replaced with a bulletin board and copy machine on the wall next to the D.A.'s office, and a bunch of files and 2 smaller pictures on the wall outside the E.A.D.A.'s office. This is seen later.