For Some Families of Color, a Painful Fight for a Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosis

Nineteen years earlier, her first son, Jarrod, displayed classic symptoms of cystic fibrosis as a newborn — failure to gain weight; a stubborn, phlegmy cough; and frequent, oily stools. But instead of identifying the cause of her son’s illness, doctors at the New Orleans emergency room where she took Jarrod blamed his poor growth on his mother, who is Black and was a teenager at the time. Ms. Barrow-Wells said that doctors had accused her of starving her son, placed the two of them in a room with video surveillance and reported her to child protective services.

Doctors discharged Jarrod two weeks later without a diagnosis. It would take four years — and dozens of additional visits to doctors and emergency rooms — for Jarrod to be diagnosed with cystic fibrosis...