Woman, 23, who died after refusing chemotherapy ‘adversely influenced’ by mother

Paloma Shemiran turned down cancer treatment and instead followed an “alternative treatment programme” led by her mother, prominent online conspiracy theorist Kate “Kay” Shemirani

A Cambridge graduate who died after refusing chemo was “adversely influenced” by her high profile conspiracy theorist mum, a coroner has found. Paloma Shemirani, 23, died in July last year, seven months after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

She turned down cancer treatment and instead followed an “alternative treatment programme” led by her mother, prominent online conspiracy theorist Kate “Kay” Shemirani, who was struck off as a nurse for her anti-vaccination views in 2021.

Coroner Catherine Wood said: “The influence that was brought to bear on Paloma did contribute more than minimally to her death.” Speaking after the inquest, Paloma’s older brother Sebastian said: “Paloma was brainwashed from when she was born.”

After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Paloma was working and living in a flat with a housemate and was “estranged” from her mother until her cancer diagnosis, Kent and Medway Coroner’s Court heard.

But Ms Shemirani encouraged Paloma to come back to the family home and took a leading role in her alternative “treatment programme”, which involved daily coffee enemas and a strict diet, the inquest was told.

At the time of her diagnosis, doctors at Maidstone Hospital told Paloma she had an 80% chance of recovery through chemotherapy.

Her mother claimed that she “looked well” on July 19 2024, the day she collapsed. She and Paloma’s dad Dr Faramarz Shemirani, who is “sympathetic” to his ex-wife’s views, tried to blame medical staff for their daughter’s death.

But an osteopath who saw Paloma on the morning she collapsed said “he had “never seen” a lymphoid mass like hers in 43 years of practice. Paloma’s mother called her friend who was nearby, before dialing 999 the day her daughter collapsed, the inquest heard.

Ms Wood branded Paloma’s mum’s actions “incomprehensible” as she concluded their influence on Paloma “more than minimally” contributed to her death.

She found her mum 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”.

Ms Wood said it was “egregious and incomprehensible” that she did not seek further medical advice as Paloma’s condition worsened. She told the court: “If approached with an open mind, Paloma would have chosen the chance to survive, and if she had undergone chemotherapy she probably would have survived.”

Neither her mother or her father attended the inquest, but her brothers Gabriel and Sebastian did and had pushed for Ms Wood to find her death an “unlawful killing” by their mother.

However, despite finding that Paloma was vulnerable after her diagnosis and was “adversely influenced”, Ms Wood said it was not clear if that influence was solely from Ms Shemirani and so did not meet the required threshold.

Speaking outside court, Sebastian said: “We were all brainwashed and therefore it’s not fair to just say, well, she’s an adult now. She has a university degree. She can make a free choice if she wants.

“There was never any option for Paloma to make a free choice about the very thing she was brainwashed about, which is medical conspiracy theories we were lectured about.

“This would be in the bathtub when we were kids. We would be sitting around the dinner table, and we’re being told how ‘big pharma’ is plotting to kill us.”

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .