A Cambridge graduate’s brother says she died after being ‘adversely influenced’ into ending chemotherapy by her anti-vax mother – as he hit out at what he called the ‘wild west of health misinformation’.
Paloma Shemirani, 23, died in July last year after declining treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma on the advice of her conspiracy theorist mother.
Kate ‘Kay’ Shemirani led Paloma’s ‘alternative treatment’ programme involving a strict diet, juices and daily coffee enemas.
It has now emerged that Ms Shemirani was offering similar programmes to cancer patients, years before Paloma’s death.
An inquest into Paloma’s death found she ‘could and should’ have survived and was given an 80 per cent chance of recovery had she undergone chemotherapy.
Her twin brother Gabriel Shemirani has now said he believes society is living in the ‘wild west of health misinformation’ and wants to stop others from dying like Paloma.
He said he was left ‘confused’ by the coroner’s conclusions, after they found his mother ‘did not meet’ her duty of care to Paloma but stopped short of ruling it was ‘unlawful killing’.
Mr Shemirani argues that because ‘nothing actually physically changed’ the coroner’s ruling was ‘dangerous’ and would embolden conspiracy theorists.
Gabriel Shemirani (left) says his sister Paloma (right) died after being ‘adversely influenced’ into ending chemotherapy by her anti-vax mother
Kate ‘Kay’ Shemirani led her daughter Paloma’s ‘alternative treatment’ programme involving a strict diet, juices and daily coffee enemas
His mother is a high-profile conspiracy theorist who was struck off as a nurse in 2021 for spreading ‘harmful misinformation’ about Covid-19.
The Press Association news agency has now highlighted a collection of emails between Ms Shemirani and various prospective ‘patients’ from 2017, some of whom appear to be expecting cancer treatment.
The patients filled out ‘consultation forms’ where they revealed what they had been diagnosed with and what they were expecting from Ms Shemirani.
One consultation form for a woman who reported having acute leukaemia was filed out by her daughter on her mother’s behalf.
Asked what she wanted from Ms Shemirani, she wrote: ‘I expect to be successfully treated/healed from leukaemia using the Gerson Therapy.’
According to the information in the email, that woman had less than a year to live if she did not continue with conventional treatment.
The woman with leukaemia was referred to Ms Shemirani by her ex-partner Patrick Vickers, who was one of the people named by the Coroner as having ‘influenced’ Paloma’s decision to refuse treatment.Â
Ms Shemirani styles herself online as ‘the natural nurse’ and maintains that she provides consultations rather than promoting her work as curative treatment.
Paloma Shemirani, 23, died in July last year after declining treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma on the advice of her conspiracy theorist parents
She is a practitioner of Gerson therapy, which includes a strict vegetarian diet and enemas, which Paloma was following prior to her death.
Cancer Research UK says that there is no scientific evidence Gerson therapy can be used as a treatment for cancer.
Another woman wrote in her consultation form that she had undergone chemotherapy for breast cancer and listed ‘heal from cancer’ when asked what she wanted from Ms Shemirani’s treatment.
Asked what she hoped the treatment would achieve, she listed ‘heal from cancer and all contributing factors/underlying causes’ at the top of her answer.
The 1939 Cancer Act prohibits any advertisement offering to treat any person for cancer or prescribing a remedy for it.Â
Mr Shemirani provided these emails to the coroner’s inquest, which did not admit them as evidence, and to Sussex Police.
He has criticised social services while his sister was alive and said that after her death police were ‘useless’.
Sussex Police said all information sent to them had been carefully reviewed.
Kate Shemirani is a high-profile conspiracy theorist who was struck off as a nurse in 2021 for spreading ‘harmful misinformation’ about Covid-19.
Paloma’s older brother Sebastian Shemirani said that the UK authorities are not currently built to deal with conspiracy theorists.
He said: ‘I think this existing framework that the authorities and safeguarding mechanisms have for understanding abuse doesn’t understand how coercion happens in the mind of the victim.
‘It’s not the case that you wake up one day with free will and then you’re bullied into accepting something that you wouldn’t otherwise do, such as rejecting traditional cancer treatment.
‘Rather, when you’re a victim of abuse, you learn to blame yourself for the abuse you’re suffering.’
Gabriel Shemirani is worried that without change his sister is going to become ‘one in a long line of people who die this way’ and he does not feel hopeful.
He said: ‘I tried everything. I tried the High Court, I tried going to a coroner’s inquest, I tried, you know, I went to the BBC and did the Panorama, you know, X, Y and Z, and it still didn’t work.
‘It got me 80 per cent of the way there, but then nothing actually physically changed.
‘We’re just living in this complete wild west of health misinformation, there are no protections whatsoever for people like my sister.’
Paloma Shemirani (pictured) died in July last year from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer, after being pressured into refusing conventional cancer treatment
He has spoken to lawyers and is considering a judicial review of the inquest to push for an ‘unlawful killing’ finding, or a civil case in the future.
Paloma collapsed and suffered an irreversible brain injury in July last year due to a 17cm tumour in her neck and chest that had stopped her breathing. She was confirmed dead in hospital five days later.
Her mother, who rose to prominence on social media while sharing Covid-19 conspiracy theories, claimed Paloma’s death was the result of gross negligence manslaughter caused by the medical staff who treated her.
Throughout the inquest Mrs Shemirani, from Uckfield in East Sussex, accused paramedics, doctors and even the coroner of attempting to ‘shift focus’ from the ‘real’ cause of her daughter’s death.
And she refused to accept any responsibility for Paloma’s death by pressuring her to reject chemotherapy and attempting to treat her non-Hodgkin lymphoma with an ‘alternative’ Gerson treatment, including a daily routine of coffee enemas and green juices.
But Kent and Medway Coroner Catherine Wood last month delivered a stinging rebuke to Mrs Shemirani and accused her of contributing ‘more than minimally’ in her daughter’s death.
Recording a narrative verdict, Mrs Wood told the court: ‘I can conclude that the influence that was brought on her management of her treatment by Mrs Shemirani did contribute more than minimally on her death.’
The coroner continued: ‘In December 2023 Paloma was found to have a large and bulky mass and it was correctly diagnosed as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is cancer.
Paloma’s twin brother, Gabriel, 23, is seen following the inquest ruling on October 2 2025
‘I find it highly likely that she (Mrs Shemirani) seeded some doubt in her diagnosis.
‘I find that Mrs Shemirani adversely influenced Paloma about her treatment.’
The coroner also criticised Paloma’s parents for blaming hospital staff contributing to her death.
She said: ‘Unfounded allegations (by Dr and Mrs Shemirani) in relations to the steps taken by others in trying to treat their daughter have been reprehensible.’
The coroner said that Mrs Shemirani appointed herself Paloma’s carer but breached the duty of care as she must have known that her daughter had cancer – and she failed to guide her ‘vulnerable daughter’ to the correct treatment.
She said: ‘I find Mrs Shemirani’s care of her daughter incomprehensible in many ways.
‘I find that Mrs Shemirani did accept that Paloma had a lymphoma mass and therefore had cancer.
‘I find it inconceivable that she did not encourage Paloma (to seek the correct treatment). There is no evidence that (alternative) Gerson treatment can treat cancer.
Paloma’s brother Gabrial had tried to force her to go back to hospital for treatment with a High Court action last year, claiming she was under the ‘coercive control’ of their mother
Gabriel (pictured left) and Sebastian (pictured right) Shemirani attended the conclusion of the coroner’s inquest into their sister’s deathÂ
‘Paloma had come to believe that she no longer had cancer, and that the Gerson treatment would reduce the tumour.
‘I cannot accept that Mrs Shemirani believed this and did not seek treatment.’
‘Paloma died of a natural disease that was curable but was not treated.’
Mrs Shemirani and her ex-husband Dr Faramarz Shemirani refused to attend the conclusion hearing, writing to the coroner to state that they would not be present to hear her verdict.
Mrs Shemirani was struck off as a nurse in 2021, and a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee found she had spread Covid-19 misinformation that ‘put the public at a significant risk of harm’.
In her evidence to the inquest Mrs Shemirani told the court that a ‘sequence of medical actions’ caused her daughter’s death, which she claimed amounted to ‘gross negligence manslaughter’.
She also claimed that while in hospital in December 2023, Paloma was given medication without her consent and felt ‘pressured and bullied’ by medical staff.
However, the first paramedic on the scene told the court that Mrs Shemirani ‘presented a challenge’ to the ambulance crew who were trying to save Paloma’s life.
Paloma had graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Portuguese and Spanish and had got a job with a yacht charter company
Robin Bass, of the South East Coast Ambulance Service, said: ‘The patient’s mother presented a challenge.
‘She kept interrupting while the crew were carrying out care.’
The paramedic added that Mrs Shemirani denied that her daughter was suffering from cancer and claimed that the ‘lymphoma’ or growth in her chest was a ‘recent event’.
The court also heard that Ms Shemirani called a friend before calling an ambulance when her daughter collapsed.