  The relativistic scattering of spin-0 bosons by spherically symmetric Coulomb
fields is analyzed in detail with an arbitrary mixing of vector and scalar
couplings. It is shown that the partial wave series reduces the scattering
amplitude to the closed Rutherford formula exactly when the vector and scalar
potentials have the same magnitude, and as an approximation for weak fields.
The behavior of the scattering amplitude near the conditions that furnish its
closed form is also discussed. Strong suppressions of the scattering amplitude
when the vector and scalar potentials have the same magnitude are observed
either for particles or antiparticles with low incident momentum. We point out
that such strong suppressions might be relevant in the analysis of the
scattering of fermions near the conditions for the spin and pseudospin
symmetries. From the complex poles of the partial scattering amplitude the
exact closed form of bound-state solutions for both particles and antiparticles
with different scenarios for the coupling constants are obtained. Perturbative
breaking of the accidental degeneracy appearing in a pair of special cases is
related to the nonconservation of the Runge-Lenz vector.
