Family Settles Case Against Doctor : Lawsuit: Relatives of suicide victim Paul Lozano will accept $1 million in dispute with psychiatrist Margaret Bean-Bayog.

The family of Paul Lozano announced Wednesday that its lawsuit against psychiatrist Margaret Bean-Bayog has been resolved with a $1-million out-of-court insurance settlement.

Lozano was a 28-year-old Harvard Medical School student who killed himself in April, 1991, following treatment by Bean-Bayog. His family charged that the two were involved in a sexual relationship, and that his suicide was caused by her decision to terminate treatment and the alleged affair.

The 48-year-old Lexington, Mass., psychoanalyst, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty, has repeatedly denied any sexual involvement with Lozano, whom she characterized as suffering from depression and a borderline personality disorder.

But in September, Bean-Bayog agreed to relinquish her license rather than face an inquiry by the state. Her statement acknowledged no culpability in the matter.

Andrew C. Meyer Jr., the attorney for the Lozano family, described Wednesday’s settlement as the maximum amount available under Bean-Bayog’s insurance.

“You don’t pay that much unless you feel you’re going down,” Meyer said.

Confirming the settlement, Michael Mone, an attorney who represented Bean-Bayog in the settlement negotiations, said, “This matter has been very stressful to Dr. Bean-Bayog and the family and they are relieved it is over.”

A statement issued by the Lozano family said they felt “justice had been served” by the settlement.

The case generated tremendous national interest in part because of extensive writings by Bean-Bayog that graphically described a sexual relationship with a young man who resembled Lozano. In an initial hearing before the state medical registration board--by whom she was later faulted for having delivered “substandard” medical care--Bean-Bayog said the writings represented her own sexual fantasies and that Lozano had stolen them.

The complaint against Bean-Bayog put an unusual spin on the rising number of sexual abuse allegations against physicians. Only a handful of such claims involve male patients and female physicians.

Bean-Bayog has stated that sexist attitudes about female doctors turned the case into a “media circus” and made a fair hearing impossible.