Prescription for Revenge

Feb. 2, 2007 — -- Dr. Bradley Schwartz was, by all accounts, a talented and accomplished pediatric ophthalmologist with a thriving practice in Tucson, Ariz. He had everything going for him: family, friends and success.

All the more reason why the community was shocked when this respected doctor was arrested for the murder of his medical partner, Dr. Brian Stidham, after Stidham left the practice, taking patients with him.

The murder Schwartz committed -- born out of a sense of betrayal -- was, pure and simple, a revenge killing.

"The anger was just overwhelming, and I think Brad was fixated that Brian was the cause of the downfall," said Lourdes Lopez, Schwartz' former fiancee.

Schwartz' former girlfriend Rachel Atkinson, concurred. "I know that he really hated him. And I guess he was going to go to any length that he could to get his patients back, to get his life back."

Tuscon defense attorney Grey Kuykendall said that "most people think about it and get over it, [but] he not only had the revenge motivation but he went through with it."

Lopez met Schwartz when she brought her foster daughter in for surgery. Lopez says that Schwartz was charming, that he swept her off her feet -- she was impressed that he was a doctor. "I got to see him interact with his children, [who] he was wonderful with," she said.

Shortly after the two began dating, Schwartz brought in Stidham to expand his practice. Stidham was Harvard trained, a husband and father of two. He had all of the qualities Schwartz was seeking in a partner -- he was well regarded at his job and patients loved him.

The plan was for Stidham to eventually take over the pediatric ophthalmology aspect of the business, leaving Schwartz free to open up another office on the north side of town. But no one involved in all of these plans knew that Schwartz was addicted to drugs.

Lopez says that Schwartz' drug problem was completely out of control. "When I met him he had already been abusing Vicodin," she said. "Three thousand pills over a period of several months. So, he had a real problem."