Man Tosses Acid, Dies in Fight With Psychiatrist

An elderly Los Angeles man armed with a gun and ropes threw hydrochloric acid on a Santa Monica psychiatrist at his office Tuesday, badly burning him, then died minutes later during a struggle with the doctor, police said.

Police described the bizarre incident as a tragic end to a long and bitter feud over the psychiatric treatment of the man’s wife.

Police said the unnamed dead man, 74, was married to a woman being treated by the psychiatrist, Dr. George Michael Seeds. Seeds, 60, of Marina del Rey had been threatened by the family and was also sued by them, police said.

Police were uncertain, hours later, whether Seeds had killed the man, or whether the man had suffered heart failure or other seizure after he forced his way into Seeds’ office and attacked the psychiatrist. An autopsy was scheduled.

Santa Monica Detective Shane Talbot said the dead man’s family had sent threatening letters to Seeds over an unknown period of time in connection with their lawsuit over his treatment of the wife--a dispute that appeared to have been resolved when Seeds reached a settlement with the family and the threatening letters stopped.

Police did not release Seeds’ assailant’s name, pending notification of next of kin. However, court records show that Arthur W. and Mildred Waters of Pacific Palisades filed a lawsuit against the psychiatrist in 1986.

Neighbors at Waters’ apartment complex on Sunset Boulevard said police detectives questioned them Tuesday about Waters and his wife. A law enforcement source who asked to remain anonymous later confirmed that Waters was the dead man.

Investigators said Seeds had ceased treating the woman identified as Waters’ wife one to two years ago and the family was not heard from again--until the attacker appeared Tuesday in Seeds’ office about lunchtime, dressed in a sport coat and tie and wielding a loaded gun, ropes and a container of acid.

The man forced his way into an inner office at Seeds’ 12th-floor psychiatry practice at 1260 15th St., threatened Seeds with a loaded .25-caliber pistol, pushed him to the floor and then tried to “tie him with ropes,” Talbot said.

At that moment, Seeds felt “something burning on his back and buttocks,” so he attacked the man and managed to bring him down, Talbot said.

As Seeds fought back, at some point he “noticed that the man was no longer breathing.” He called 911 about 12:25 p.m. and waited for police, Talbot said.

Seeds suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns and was being transferred from Santa Monica Medical Center to Torrance Memorial Hospital’s burn center, said hospital spokesman Ted Braun.

In telephone interviews, two of Waters’ neighbors told a bizarre tale of a man “obsessed” with avenging what--in his mind--was the mistreatment of his wife.

A longtime neighbor, Madeline McKenna, said Waters spent much of his time going from public agency to agency trying to report Seeds. He spoke freely about the alleged mistreatment his wife received and became “obsessed” with reporting him, McKenna said.

“He was so upset that no one would listen to him,” McKenna said.

Another neighbor, Gayle Lockwood, said that Waters had been threatening to harm the doctor for some time and that she had notified Los Angeles police of his threats, but they said there was nothing they could do.

In the past week, McKenna said Waters had become more agitated, vowing “to find some way to get those doctors” and saying “he had to do what he had to do. I’m not going to kill anyone. I’m just going to hurt them,” Waters said, according to McKenna.

Neighbors said Mildred Waters had a history of treatment for mental illness, and they said Arthur Waters told them that she shot herself to death last spring.

On Saturday, Waters left the apartment where he had lived for 11 years and where he was manager until recently, telling McKenna and Lockwood he was going to check into a motel at the beach in Santa Monica.

“I’ve got to expose this,” McKenna said he told her. “Nobody will listen to me. I’ve got to do something.”

The women described Waters as an otherwise gentle, helpful man.

“The hurt must have bottled up inside of him,” McKenna said. “He just couldn’t get over the fact she would end up this way and nobody would listen.”

Dr. Wally Ghurabi, head of emergency services at the Santa Monica hospital, said Seeds suffered the worst burns on his forehead, neck and left buttocks. Ghurabi said there was also evidence of rope burns around Seeds’ ankles.

It was the third attack upon a mental health practitioner in the past year in Santa Monica.

Last February, Robbyn Panitch, a mental health worker, was stabbed 31 times and killed by a patient. A social worker was stabbed and badly hurt last April at a board-and-care facility for mental patients in the city.

“It’s the kind of thing that everyone is always afraid of happening,” Los Angeles psychiatrist Anthony Rosenthal said of the attack on Seeds, whom he has known since 1969. “There are all sorts of incidents where people threaten . . . but the number of times when violence occurs is quite small. The prediction of violence is something at which psychiatry is weak.”

One police spokesman said Seeds admitted that he was responsible for the man’s death. However, Sgt. John Miehle, said police “are not looking at this criminally at this time and we are still sorting this out. The doctor is able to speak; however he is injured so we decided not to press the issue.”

A handwritten note on Seeds’ office door said only: “Dr. Seeds will not be available to see patients for the remainder of the day.”

According to the Southern California Psychiatry Society, where Seeds is a member and has been active on the Government Affairs Committee, Seeds graduated from USC Medical School in 1955. He completed his psychiatric training in 1972 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and completed a fellowship at UCLA in 1974.

Doug Stokkie, a spokesman for USC, said Seeds was affiliated with USC’s teaching school from 1978 to 1988, where he was a clinical assistant professor.

Seeds was also listed as a member of the American Medical Assn. and the Los Angeles County Medical Assn.

Times staff writers Edward J. Boyer, Mathis Chazanov, John L. Mitchell, Myrna Oliver and James Rainey contributed to this story.