The Associated Press
Psychiatrist Accused in Patient’s Suicide Resigns; State Hearing Canceled
By Jonathan Yenkin
September 19, 1992

A psychiatrist accused of seducing a patient who later committed suicide has succeeded on her second try at resigning her medical license.

The resignation submitted Friday by Dr. Margaret Bean-Bayog was “permanent, unconditional and unequivocal,” unlike the one offered Thursday that had strings attached, said Michelle Haynes, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Consumer Affairs.

Haynes said the disciplinary action against Bean-Bayog was over and a state hearing scheduled for Monday would be canceled.

Bean-Bayog can continue work as a psychotherapist but cannot prescribe medicine anywhere in the United States, Haynes said.

Bean-Bayog is accused of misconduct in the treatment of Paul Lozano, 28, a Harvard Medical School student who died last year after injecting himself about 75 times with cocaine. She has denied any impropriety.

Bean-Bayog, 49, a Harvard faculty member and authority on substance abuse, said in affidavits that Lozano was so mentally ill many other doctors wouldn’t treat him. She treated Lozano from 1986 to 1990.

His family, which has sued Bean-Bayog, said Lozano was a promising medical student destroyed by a psychiatrist who forced him to act like her baby, had sex with him and left him so depressed he killed himself.

The board had officially accused Bean-Bayog of providing psychiatric treatment that didn’t conform to medical standards.

On Thursday, Bean-Bayog agreed to give up her medical license to avoid the ordeal of a public hearing. But state officials refused to accept her resignation, saying her lawyer clouded the issue by asking the state to accept the resignation only if it couldn’t resolve the case without a public hearing.

Unlike the four-page letter Bean-Bayog sumitted Thursday, the resignation she signed Friday didn’t contain any comments professing her innocence or blasting the state review process.

Bean-Bayog said in her affidavit she used a form of therapy in which she filled the role of the “protective mom,” but said Lozano understood she was not his real mother.

Bean-Bayog also acknowledged having sexual fantasies about Lozano, but said she never mentioned them to him and flatly denied having sex with him.