A University of Cambridge graduate who died after refusing chemotherapy was “adversely influenced” by her mother’s conspiracy theory views, an inquest has concluded.
Paloma Shemirani, 23, died at Royal Sussex County Hospital on 24 July 2024, seven months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Her mother, Kay “Kate” Shemirani, rose to prominence on social media by sharing anti-vaccine Covid-19 misinformation, and had been struck off as a nurse in 2021, with a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee finding she had spread theories that “put the public at a significant risk of harm”.
The inquest heard that she had raised concerns with medical staff about Paloma’s treatment plan, and had taken in a “leading role” in pursuing “alternative treatment” for her daughter.
The hearings at Kent and Medway Coroners Court heard that this treatment had revolved largely around a strict diet, coffee enemas and “lots of green juices”.
Describing Ms Shemirani’s conduct of care towards her daughter as “incomprehensible”, coroner Catherine Wood concluded: “If Paloma had been supported and encouraged to accept her diagnosis and consider with an open mind chemotherapy, she probably would have followed that course.”
Her mother questioned medical staff to the extent that the coroner found it “highly likely that she seeded some form of doubt in Paloma’s mind as to her diagnosis”.
Paloma’s twin brother, Gabriel Shemirani, said: “I blame my mother entirely for my sister’s death”, by “obstructing” his sister from receiving treatment.
“In short, I believe that she sacrificed Paloma’s life for her own principles. I believe that she should be held accountable for Paloma’s death,” said Mr Shemirani.
Arunodaya Mohan, an NHS consultant haematologist at Maidstone Hospital, said that there had been concerns that the nurse-turned-conspiracy theorist had influenced her daughter’s decision to refuse treatment.
She had met with Paloma on 22 December 2023 to set out the treatment plan after her diagnosis, which came after she began to suffer pain in her chest.
Dr Mohan told Paloma that she had an 80 per cent chance of recovery if she had chemotherapy, and recommended steroids and a PET (positron emission tomography) scan, adding that Paloma “nodded in agreement”.
Paloma later refused the treatment and when asked why, she did not appear to have a reason. Alison Hewitt, counsel to the inquest, later asked: “Were there concerns that Ms Shemirani was influencing Paloma?”
Dr Mohan replied: “That’s right.”
She told the inquest that Ms Shemirani had mentioned wanting to be her daughter’s “power of attorney” and was asking for copies of blood records.
At the time of Paloma’s cancer diagnosis in autumn 2023, she was estranged from her mother, who then advised her against conventional medicine, the court heard.
Her brother brought a High Court case to assess his sister’s ability to exert her capacity to take medical decisions while living with her mother in April 2024.
He claimed that when Paloma was first diagnosed, she was considering chemotherapy, before their parents started to pressure her against it.
Her father sent a message to his daughter saying, “Don’t consent to anything from the doctors, they try and kill you”, and that Ms Shemirani had said, “I’m the only one that can help you, don’t bite the hand that feeds”.
In other messages, her father had insisted she discharge herself and refuse any medication and to urgently confirm she had done so, with Paloma responding: “Jesus Christ, can you both calm down” and “I get it, you’re heckling me”.
Ms Shemirani also sent Paloma’s then-boyfriend a voice note telling him to bring her to their family home and saying “she’s really not going to be going in or out of anywhere”, while she looked after her.
Giving evidence, her brother Gabriel said that the relationship between his parents, who had split in 2014, had been abusive, and that he and his siblings had “felt unsafe” around their mother.
This had included Paloma being removed from the family home prior to her diagnosis due to “emotional and physical abuse”, which included food restriction.
However, in written statements submitted to the family division of the High Court in spring 2024, Paloma said she declined chemotherapy partly because of her “background in natural healing”.
The proceedings, which were to assess the appropriateness of her care, also saw her describe her mother as “an extremely forceful advocate for natural health” who is “misquoted” by people claiming “those natural solutions are conspiratorial”.
She also claimed her human rights had been violated by NHS practitioners, that she was “delighted” with her alternative treatment, and denied even having non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The coroner concluded that while Paloma had shown mental capacity, she was “extremely vulnerable” in the months prior to her death, and this had only increased upon moving into her mother’s home.
Paloma collapsed at her home on 19 July after telling her mother she was struggling to breathe, and died five days later in hospital. In her evidence, Ms Shemirani told the court that her daughter had appeared well that day, which Ms Wood described as “simply incredible”.
An osteopath who saw Paloma the morning she collapsed also said he had “never seen” a lymphoid mass like hers in 43 years of practice.
On the 999 call played to the court, Ms Shemirani was heard shouting “she’s dying” to the operator before the paramedics arrived.
She also told the ambulance operator, “it’s difficult to lie her on her front because she has a medicinal mass” in her throat, and later told hospital staff that her diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma was disputed.
“Paloma made her own treatment choices based on her values, research and experiences,” Ms Shemirani told the inquest.
She added that her daughter was “never a victim of coercion” and that she “continued to improve physically” under her alternative medicines.
“She was determined to get well on her own terms and this is well documented in her own high court statement, which was read out in this coroner’s hearing”, said Ms Shemirani.
She claimed that her daughter had died as a result of gross negligence manslaughter by medical staff, and said that Paloma had “deteriorated catastrophically” when paramedics intervened after she collapsed.
However, the coroner criticised her and her ex-husband’s behaviour in court and said: “These utterly groundless assertions to the cause of death and unfounded allegations in relation to the steps taken by others in trying to treat their daughter have been reprehensible.”
Ms Wood concluded that Paloma had died of 1a) hyperoxic ischemic brain injury as a result of 1b) cardiac arrest as a consequence of her non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
