A coroner has ruled that the daughter of a high-profile conspiracy theorist died after being persuaded to reject chemotherapy in favour of alternative treatments promoted by her mother.
Paloma Shemirani, 23, from Uckfield in East Sussex, died in July 2024, just seven months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The Cambridge graduate had initially agreed to undergo chemotherapy, which doctors said gave her an 80% chance of a complete cure.
However, she later declined treatment and instead pursued alternative therapies, including consuming juices and undergoing up to five coffee enemas a day.
At Kent and Medway Coroners Court on Thursday, Coroner Catherine Wood concluded that Ms Shemirani had died from the progression of a disease that was treatable but left untreated.
She ruled that the influence of Ms Shemirani’s mother, Kate Shemirani, a former nurse and well-known conspiracy theorist struck off for spreading anti-vaccination views, had contributed to her daughter’s death.
“The influence that was brought to bear on Paloma did contribute more than minimally to her death,” Ms Wood said.
“It seems that if Paloma had been supported and encouraged to accept her diagnosis and considered chemotherapy with an open mind, she probably would have followed that course.”
The court heard that after her diagnosis in December 2023, Ms Shemirani went to live with her mother. According to her brothers, Gabriel and Sebastian, she then abandoned conventional treatment and embraced their mother’s regime of coffee enemas.
An osteopath who saw Ms Shemirani on the day she collapsed in July 2024 said he had “never seen” a lymphoid mass of such scale in 43 years of practice. She was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton but died five days later.
The coroner said she found Kate Shemirani’s care of her daughter “incomprehensible” but stopped short of ruling her actions amounted to unlawful killing.
She also noted the role of other family members, including Ms Shemirani’s father, Dr. Faramarz Shemirani, and a family friend, who had supported alternative treatments.
“The dynamics within the immediate family were complicated and dysfunctional at the time of Paloma’s death,” Ms Wood observed, describing the discord as “striking” and highly visible throughout the inquest.
Paloma’s brothers expressed deep anger at the conclusion, with Gabriel stating: “I blame my mother entirely for my sister’s death.” He accused her of obstructing his sister from accessing lifesaving treatment. Both brothers argued the state had failed by not recognising the death as an unlawful killing, despite what they described as a clear breach of their mother’s duty of care.
Neither Kate nor Faramarz Shemirani attended the conclusion of the inquest. Throughout the proceedings, Kate Shemirani attempted to shift blame onto medical staff, whom she has previously accused of poisoning patients.
She has repeatedly described chemotherapy as “mustard gas.”
The coroner, however, was clear in her findings, praising the care provided by staff at Maidstone Hospital, the Royal Sussex County Hospital and paramedics, all of whom she said acted appropriately.
Ms Wood concluded: “Paloma died from the progression of a disease which was curable but not treated.”