🔗 Share this article

A high-profile alternative belief promoter influenced her daughter to refuse chemotherapy in preference of unconventional therapies, which eventually led to her passing, a investigating official has ruled.

Paloma Shemirani, from Uckfield, died in mid-year last year - several months after she was identified non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Therapy Selection

The young woman had refused chemotherapy in preference of natural beverages and coffee-based treatments recommended by her mother, Kate Shemirani, a ex-healthcare professional who was struck off for her vaccine-skeptical views.

Medical examiner Catherine Wood stated at the official inquiry on the proceeding date: "The pressure that was exerted on Paloma... did contribute more than minimally to her death."

Unconventional Approach

After her health identification in winter 2023, Ms Shemirani relocated with her mother and began having daily alternative therapies a day, as reported by her brothers.

In mid-2024, she collapsed at home and was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in the coastal city, where she succumbed less than a week later.

"In my career I haven't encountered a tumor like hers in my entire career of medical work," stated an therapist who saw Ms Shemirani on the morning she was hospitalized.

Investigation Results

Ms Wood determined that Ms Shemirani succumbed to the development of a medical condition which was manageable but not treated.

She further stated that conventional therapy would have given Ms Shemirani an 80% chance of a complete cure.

The university educated woman had originally agreed to treatment, the coroner noted, adding that "questions regarding approval only emerged after Mrs Shemirani became engaged."

Parental Impact

The coroner said Ms Shemirani was being swayed by her own beliefs, her mother's, her father's and by those of a trusted individual - all who supported the alternative treatment she practiced.

"I found Mrs Shemirani's care of her daughter unfathomable but not unlawful killing," Ms Wood declared.

Ms Shemirani's mother attempted to fault hospital workers for her daughter's death and has previously labelled chemotherapy as "mustard gas".

Official Findings

Healthcare workers at the medical facility, where Ms Shemirani was identified, the Brighton hospital and paramedics all responded correctly, the official inquiry determined.

Not one of her parents - non-medical doctor Faramarz Shemirani - participated in the official ending of the legal proceeding.

Family Response

Her brothers, Gabriel and Sebastian Shemirani, were present and said the authorities had "not fulfilled its duty" by not categorizing their sister's death as an unlawful killing, despite admitting a violation in their mother's duty of care.

Gabriel stated to the investigation: "I blame my mother entirely for my sister's death", adding she had been "hindering" his sister from obtaining medical care.

The investigator noted the "striking" family dysfunction, which she said had been "evident to all" during the proceeding.

"The dynamics within the household members were difficult and problematic at the time of Paloma's death," she remarked.