Levy Put on Leave By Medical Society

A Harvard Medical School professor has been placed on leave by the state medical society in response to charges that he knew of the alleged sexual relations between a colleague and a patient and failed to report it.

The Massachusetts Medical Society placed Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Bernard S. Levy on leave as director of its physician health committee last week pending an investigation into the charges, according to The Boston Globe.

According to an affidavit filed Wednesday, Levy attempted to cover up for Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Margaret H. Bean-Bayog '65, who has been accused of seducing a Medical School student she was treating and causing him to kill himself.

Levy told a Cambridge psychotherapist, Amy Stromsten, in May 1991 about the alleged sexual misconduct but said she should continue referring patients to Bean-Bayog, Stromsten said in the affidavit.

"He said it was no big deal. He thought the kid was crazy so it didn't matter," Stromsten said in an interview last week.

Stromsten treated the patient, Paul Lozano, while he was hospitalized at McLean Hospital. She said she met with him several times between 1987 and his death in 1991.

Levy, a respected Newton psychiatrist, refused to comment on the allegations yesterday.

He said he plans to file an affidavit today in support of Bean-Bayog's conduct.

Levy told The Boston Globe last week that he did not know about the allegations against Bean-Bayog until media coverage of the case began last week.

State officials are investigating charges that Bean-Bayog had an affair with Lozano and drove him to suicide by regressing him to the state of a toddler.

Lozano, a fourth-year Harvard medical student, killed himself with a lethal cocaine injection one year ago. The28-year-old died three months before hisgraduation.

Lozano was diagnosed by at least fourpsychiatrists as suffering from severe mentaldisorders, according to his medical records.

Bean-Bayog, who treated Lozano between July1986 and June 1990, has repeatedly denied havingsex with Lozano. She maintains that her treatmentof Lozano was appropriate and terms his death"accidental."

A state medical board ruled last week thatBean-Bayog failed to conform with acceptedstandards of practice, but decided not to revokeher license pending a hearing.

The Medical School placed Bean-Bayog, 48, onadministrative leave and removed her name from allreferral lists last May after receiving acomplaint from another psychiatrist treatingLozano

Lozano was diagnosed by at least fourpsychiatrists as suffering from severe mentaldisorders, according to his medical records.

Bean-Bayog, who treated Lozano between July1986 and June 1990, has repeatedly denied havingsex with Lozano. She maintains that her treatmentof Lozano was appropriate and terms his death"accidental."

A state medical board ruled last week thatBean-Bayog failed to conform with acceptedstandards of practice, but decided not to revokeher license pending a hearing.

The Medical School placed Bean-Bayog, 48, onadministrative leave and removed her name from allreferral lists last May after receiving acomplaint from another psychiatrist treatingLozano