People with CF, as well as movie reviewers, have pointed out some medical inaccuracies: First, there's the luxurious hospital complete with a meditation room and pool, but no mention of how the patients afford it. Then, there's the fact that Stella and Will spend a lot of time in the hospital without masks on , which is typically recommended for people with CF in order to prevent breathing in germs . Kayla Ariana, a 19-year-old with cystic fibrosis who's reviewed the book Five Feet Apart (which was written at the same time as the screenplay ) on her Tumblr, tells Refinery29 that Five Feet Apart also doesn't show "how hard it is to breathe and how self-conscious one might be. There's a type of shame, I feel, when I cough in general; there's always an apology after, because it's not normal for one to cough as many times or that hard.”