Note: I do not intend to have this become a controversial issue.
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by MIKE VON FREMD - ABC NEWS
June 30, 2008

Is the country's largest pet store chain to blame for the death of a 63-year old father and Vietnam War veteran from Texas? His family thinks so.
They believe a diseased exotic bird bought at a Corpus Christi PetSmart is responsible for the death of Joe De La Garza. And now the family is suing PetSmart for not protecting the consumer against a rare disease called psittacosis, or "parrot fever."
Amanda De La Garza was one of 11 million Americans who own pet birds. On Sept. 30, 2006, she could not resist a small $85 cockatiel.
"I noticed a little bird, which I later named Peachy," says Amanda, who lived with her 63-year-old father at the time. Sixteen days after bringing Peachy into her home, her father died, and Amanda slipped into a coma.
"When the doctors were alerted that I had birds, I had different antibiotics and I began to respond."
Amanda she says was shocked to learn she had contracted a bacterial infection, called psittacosis, from her pet cockatiel.
"Psittacosis is a relatively rare disease in humans," said Dr. James Imperato at the CUNY Medical Center. "There are only about a dozen to 25 cases reported a year."
The death certificate for her father, Joe De La Garza, stated the cause of death as pneumonia, but Amanda suspected her bird was the real cause, and she had his body exhumed last year.
"If he died from this, I had to be sure," she said.
An autopsy was performed and tissue samples were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Amanda's attorney, Ron Franklin, says, "what the CDC determined was that Mr. De La Garza had psittacosis. Through genetic blood tests -- and the autopsy with those findings -- it was able to determine the primary cause of death."
And because of these findings, the family is now suing PetSmart, where the bird was purchased.
In a written statement PetSmart says it has great sympathy for the De La Garza family's loss but adds, "We stand behind our pets. We believe these allegations are unfounded, and we intend to vigorously defend against them."

PetSmart produced a contract signed by Amanda that released the company from any liability resulting from exposure to the pets she purchased. The company says all cockatiels receive a 14-day course of antibiotics and then a seven-day isolation period to protect people against psittacosis.
Doctors say most people recover from exposure to the disease. "The fatality rate is very minimal in the U.S. because it can be treated very efficiently," says Imperato.
Unfortunately, that was certainly not the case with Amanda's father, and she describes her pain. "I think about this every day. My father is gone, my birds are gone, but I want the public to know about this so it doesn't happen to them."

Do you all really think this is what killed him?

Hmm interesting.

I feel for the family, but that is what contracts are for.

Sad, very sad.

Not sure I'd blame the store however.

But that is just my humble opinion.

My best friend of 26 years is (unfortunately) a personal injury lawyer. These guys will sue over anything.

Yes, this is very sad indeed.
There's risks involved with bring any animal into the home.
My Rose has serious allergy's, she takes meds on a daily basis.
We have air filtration fans running 24/7 here and yet one can find the fine feather powder on just about everything.
When 2 worlds collide there's bound to be trouble, doing ones homework before making the decision to bring any animal into the home would put a stop to a lot of the issues.
Hopefully folks will learn, the mass breeding at these bird mills to supply the pet shops is not governed the way it should be, if it were, the cost of breeding these birds and making sure they are disease and virus free would raise the cost and make these birds harder to obtain by the general public, (god forbid).
Buying birds has changed since I bought our first bird (Joey) a little female latino
Tiel, I didn't have to sign any waiver.
If so, I think I would have thought, (Waiver) wait a minute, whats involved with buying this little bird, Risks....what risks?
How sad, how very sad.

I know I will not set foot in petsmart, they have repeadatly been infected with psittacosis. Even though their birds are enclosed all it takes in one employee to not wash after cleaning the enclosure, (which happens often on the account of helping a customer) and you now have psittacosis on the shelve and products. And it sticks around for a while. Next thing you know you have brought home an infected toy or food bag, and it could be dog food, doesn't matter. Cross contamination, is cross contamination. As an immunosuppressed person, I will not take the chance, and as a bird owner I will not put Eve at risk either.