It was written by Rob Des Hotel and Dean Batali, directed by Deran Sarafian, and first broadcast on The WB on March 3, 1998.
Her mother reveals that Buffy has hated hospitals ever since she saw her beloved cousin, Celia, die in one when she was eight years old.
Buffy awakes and takes a walk down the hall where she see two men remove a dead child from the children's ward.
At the library, Cordelia finds a picture of Ryan's monster on the cover of a book; they learn that it is called Kindestod (German: 'the child's death'), a demon that absorbs the life force of sickly children, making it seem that they died of their illness.
They report to Buffy by telephone, and she realises that Backer was murdered because he was curing the children and depriving the monster of food.
Backer's office, where they find that he was giving the children injections of the virus they already have, to stimulate their immune response.
Later that day, Buffy finishes recuperating at home and Xander and Willow decide to keep her company.
This may explain Xander's anger and frustration over Buffy's romantic choices throughout the series, as from his perspective ordinary guys like him don't seem to "do it" for her.
It was written for a goofy, campy point in the series’ run, and then lightly revised for the darker second half of season two through the addition (most likely by Whedon) of a few scenes of Xander and Angel facing off at the hospital where a feverish Buffy is recovering.