By MICHAEL STARR

March 5, 2008

ON tonight's "Law & Order," a psychiatrist is brutally murdered - and one of his patients is suspected.

Sound familiar?

The episode, "Betrayal," is airing just three weeks after Upper East Side psychologist Kathryn Faughey was allegedly slashed-to-death in her office by mental patient David Tarloff in a case that riveted New York.

It's a rare case of life imitating art in the world of "Law & Order," which prides itself on its "ripped-from-the-headlines" approach to telling New York stories.

But "Betrayal" was actually shot in New York last October - four months before the Faughey murder.

And its airdate, so soon after the horrific incident, is pure coincidence, NBC officials say.

Still, it's an eerie coincidence.

In tonight's episode, a psychiatrist who treats troubled teens is found shot-to-death in his office.

Detectives Green and Lupo (Jesse L. Martin, Jeremy Sisto) suspect the killer is either one of the doctor's youthful patients, or his jealous, much-younger wife, Catherine ("One Tree Hill's" Moira Kelly).

" 'Law & Order' is fiction," a show spokeswoman said yesterday.

Tonight's episode airs 10 p.m. on Ch. 4.

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