Cambridge graduate **Paloma Shemirani**, 23, passed away on **24 July 2024** at Royal Sussex County Hospital, following her refusal to undergo chemotherapy for non‑Hodgkin lymphoma—a cancer doctors said carried an **80% chance of survival** with standard treatment ITV News revealed during an inquest.
In court statements read aloud, Paloma described herself as “anti‑vax” and detailed her deep commitment to **natural healing**—a philosophy shaped by her mother, **Kate Shemirani**, a former nurse stripped of her license in 2021 for spreading Covid-19 misinformation. Paloma said she firmly trusted her mother’s guidance and believed Gerson therapy (juicing, vegan diets, enemas) would save her instead of chemo according to reporting by LADbible and **People** magazine’s family account in a BBC Panorama recap.
“My sister died as a direct result of my mum’s actions and beliefs.”
Despite testing showing a potentially treatable malignancy, Paloma denied having cancer—calling the diagnosis a “shadow on my lung,” accusing medical practitioners of violating her human rights, and rejecting R‑CHOP chemotherapy due to fertility concerns as The Australian summarized and further described in sister‑brother testimonies by The Times.
Paloma died following a **heart attack caused by the tumor** in July 2024. Her brothers, Gabriel and Sebastian, assert that she was coerced through emotional influence and misinformation—launching campaigns to push for legal safeguards around **medical coercion via conspiracy ideology** and calling for social media platforms to clamp down on harmful health misinformation as Sebastian shared in The Times interview and **The Sun** highlighted in its sibling statements.
“Brothers blame mum’s ‘brainwashing’ for Paloma’s death,” The Sun quotes Sebastian.
The inquest heard that Paloma believed NHS providers violated her rights, citing Articles 3, 6 and 8 of the Human Rights Act. She called the diagnosis “absurd fantasy” and refused medical imaging—asserting she lacked trust in conventional medicine. Yet consultants reaffirmed tissue biopsies and scans supported a cancer diagnosis, warnings that it was unlikely to resolve without chemotherapy per the legal records read in court.
Kate Shemirani has denied culpability, arguing that her daughter died due to medical intervention rather than omission. However, critics and authorities continue to scrutinize her online influence—especially after her TikTok account was banned and allegations emerged that she even asked Paloma’s boyfriend to stop her signing treatment consent as UNILAD reported.
This case has sparked a national conversation about the dangerous consequences of medical misinformation, even when embraced by adults. Paloma was legally an autonomous adult, but her decisions were undeniably shaped by a lifetime of conspiracy messaging—raising alarms among clinicians and lawmakers alike as The Times documented.
In exploring Paloma’s death, society is being forced to ask: when does informed health choice cross into manipulation? Her brothers argue that the legal system is ill-equipped to intervene when conspiracy beliefs, not overt force, obscure a patient’s decision-making capacity.
Her death serves as a devastating case study in how unchecked misinformation—even for an adult—can alter medical decision-making and lead to preventable loss. As inquests continue, her family’s campaign remains focused on preventing others from suffering the same fate through awareness, legal reform, and accountability.
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