Man Tossed Acid to Get His Day in Court : Crime: Attacker wanted to air complaints about medical treatment of wife. He told neighbors, who warned police, of his plans to attack doctor.

Arthur Waters had carried a grudge for years.

His wife, Mildred, had been driven to psychosis and suicide by psychiatrists, he claimed. To prove his point, he compiled an exhaustive journal, recording nearly every pill his wife took and her reaction.

He would show the world that his wife shot herself to death last year because of improper treatment, the 74-year-old Pacific Palisades man told neighbors in the apartment building he managed.

Waters had urged legal authorities and the news media to review the reams of information he had. But when they declined to launch investigations, neighbors said, Waters hatched a desperate plan: He would attack the doctors who treated his wife, and he would not be ignored anymore.

On Tuesday, just after noon, Waters went to the Santa Monica office of Dr. George Seeds, one of his wife’s former psychiatrists.

Armed with a .25-caliber pistol, a rope and a plastic bottle filled with muriatic acid, he tied up the 60-year-old psychiatrist, then doused him with the acid, police said.

In the ensuing struggle between the two men, Waters fell dead.

Police said they believe Seeds was acting in self-defense. But they were not certain if the psychiatrist strangled Waters or the elderly man died of sudden, natural causes. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Seeds was in fair condition Wednesday in a Torrance hospital, where he is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his face and body.

Neighbors in the apartment building on Sunset Boulevard were stunned to learn Waters had finally acted on his threats.

For years, the building manager had told neighbors he was frustrated, because no one would listen to the story of his wife’s illness and death.

He had called everyone from the district attorney’s office to newspapers and such television programs as “60 Minutes,” “20/20” and “Donahue” in hopes of finding an ear for his story of how several doctors allegedly provided improper medication for his wife, one neighbor said.

He became obsessed with the case after his wife killed herself in the couple’s apartment last April 24, neighbors said.

When the media and others failed to take interest, Waters told neighbors that he planned to attack those whom he blamed for his wife’s worsening psychosis and death, said neighbor Robin Jesseman.

“It was basically, ‘I’m going to pay these guys back,’ ” Jesseman said. “He promised he wasn’t going to kill anyone. He told me he was going to shoot them in the legs and cripple them.”

Waters blamed four unnamed doctors for his wife’s deteriorating condition, said Jesseman and another neighbor, Gayle Lockwood.

He referred to the psychiatrists only by number--”Dr. No. 1 and Dr. No. 2”--the women said.

“His intent was to go after all of them. But he thought he was going to get caught after the first one,” Lockwood said. “He had talked about it, really, for years.”

Neighbors said Waters told them that, at his trial, the doctors’ mistakes “would all come out in the open.”

Waters went on his crusade despite the fact that he had settled a malpractice lawsuit against Seeds in 1987 for $75,000, court records show.

Seeds was not sanctioned in that case, or any other, and is in good standing with the Medical Board of California, according to a spokeswoman for the state agency.

Waters told Lockwood and Jesseman last month that he wanted to carry out his revenge plan before Christmas.

But he was delayed, for a time, when he contacted an unnamed reporter, or investigator, whom he thought might take up his cause, the women said.

Earlier this month, Waters gave away many of his belongings and, on Saturday, he moved out of the apartment building he had managed for 11 years and checked into a Santa Monica motel, Lockwood said.

Waters had filled three briefcases with identical sets of “evidence,” leaving one with Jesseman, one with the building’s owner and keeping one for himself.

Jesseman said Waters gave her the giant black briefcase about a month ago, telling her to release it to the media after he went to jail.

The briefcase contains--in dizzying detail--a chronicle of Mildred Waters’ medical history, including daily logs kept by her husband, dating back to 1984, that noted medication his wife had taken and her behavior.

The briefcase also held four boxes of documents, ranging from annotated depositions in the lawsuit to correspondence with the district attorney’s office.

Carefully labeled audio tapes in the briefcase suggest Waters taped his phone calls, some of them purportedly with his wife’s doctors.

He had also written a 65-page essay--entitled “Lowest Lows in the Medical and Legal Professions”--criticizing his wife’s treatment, Talbot said.

Jesseman and Lockwood said they called Los Angeles police and several suicide hot lines last month to warn them about Waters’ statements to them.

But authorities told them they could not do anything--unless Waters named his victims, or acted on his threats.

Sgt. Doug Abney of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Los Angeles Division said the department would be able to locate a record of the phone call only after extensive checking. He said officers probably would not have acted on the call if they did not know who the targets of the threats were.

“We felt helpless. There was nothing we could have done,” Jesseman said.

“We tried. We really tried. We were in a panic.”

Waters’ lawsuit blamed his wife’s worsening psychosis and involuntary muscle twitches on excessive dosages of psychotropic drugs. But Seeds’ lawyer, Erica Snyder, said the doctor’s prescriptions were proper.

“Our experts said that the use of the drug was completely within the standard of care,” the lawyer said.

Snyder said Seeds settled the case to avoid a costly court trial.

Even after the settlement, Waters continued to write letters to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, where Seeds is on the staff, complaining about his wife’s treatment, Talbot said. Seeds felt the letters were threatening, the detective said.

Snyder said that, shortly after the settlement, she received a telephone call from a psychologist, who said he was treating Arthur and Mildred Waters.

The therapist told the attorney that Arthur Waters had threatened to kill Snyder, because he said the lawyer was trying to steal his settlement money, Snyder said.

“The check had already been issued,” Snyder said Wednesday. “It was crazy. It had all been settled and done.”

Snyder said she had forgotten about the case, and the threats, until a reporter called Wednesday.

Waters’ lawyer, Bruce A. Friedman, could not be reached Wednesday.

Neighbors said Waters’ obsession with his wife’s case belied a normally gentle man who dutifully performed his chores around the building that overlooks Santa Monica Bay.

“He was a good, good man,” said Genevieve Lipton, building owner. “He was a kind, honest man.”

Waters was born in Iowa and worked as a contractor before taking the apartment manager’s job, Lipton said.