It was a media fantasty come true. It was a story about sex, doctors, suicide and even Harvard.

It was the story of Dr. Margaret H. Bean-Bayog '65, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist accused of driving her patient, Medical School student Paul Lozano, to suicide after having an affair with him.

Throughout the spring the Boston psychiatric community watched in astonishment as the Lozano family's accusations--and Bean-Bayog's denials--were splashed across the pages of newspapers and magazines across the country.

At least one Los Angeles production company looked into purchasing the film rights to the case.

And just as media interest in Bean-Bayog began to die down last month, a state hearing officer found another Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Edward M. Daniels, guilty of sexual abuse. Daniels was accused of abusing four of his female patients during the 1960s and 1970s.

These two widely-publicized cases have heightened many people's mistrust of the psychiatric community, especially in the area of psychiatrists' relations with their patients.

The case have also undercut some people's confidence in the regulatory bureaucracy's ability to handle allegations of sexual abuse.

Bean-Bayog herself is currently awaiting trial for a malpractice and wrongful death suit filed by the Lozano family. She is also waiting for her case to go before the Division of Law Appeals, an independent state agency that will conduct a formal hearing on whether she should keep her license to practice medicine.

The Cambridge Hospital psychiatrist has repeately denied charges that she used inappropriate treatment methods or that she had sex with her patient.

But claims that Bean-Bayog drove 28-year-old Paul Lozano to kill himself by making him pretend to be her 3-year-old child have lingered.

Lozano sought the psychiatrist's counseling while studying at Harvard Medical School between 1986 and 1990.

He was hospitalized repeatedly, and eventually killed himself with a cocaine injection in Texas in April 1991, three months before he would have graduated.

But Bean-Bayog maintains that she had nothing to do with the suicide. she says that Lozano "harbored homicidal, violent and delusional thoughts" and that "many psychiatrists would not have even attempted to treat him."

Despite her denials, pressure has mounted on Bean-Bayog and the inquires have continued.

Last May, the Medical School placed Bean-Bayog on administrative leave and removed her from all referral lists after learning that a complaint had been filed.