A British Cancer Patient Refused Chemotherapy and Died. Her Family Blames Her Conspiracy Theorist Mom By Sean Neumann

A popular social media conspiracy theorist is at the center of an inquiry into her daughter’s death after the college student refused chemotherapy treatment and later died of complications stemming from her cancer, according to English media reports.

Paloma Shemirani, 23, died five days after she suffered a heart attack last July. Her mother, Kate Shemirani, has alleged that malpractice by first responders led to her daughter’s death, according to a BBC story published in June, while medical professionals have said – including at this week’s inquiry – that it’s their opinion Paloma’s death was caused by a large, untreated tumor growing in her chest that restricted her airways.

Paloma’s twin brother Gabriel and their younger brother Sebastian recently blamed their mother for their sister’s death, telling BBC in June her conspiracy theories about chemotherapy scared Paloma into refusing treatment.

“My sister has passed away as a direct consequence of my mum’s actions and beliefs and I don’t want anyone else to go through the same pain or loss that I have,” Gabriel told BBC.

The brothers alleged their parents, Kate and Dr. Faramarz Shemirani, have long been interested in conspiracy theories and often listened to podcasts spouting outlandish claims about 9/11, the Sandy Hook school shooting and the COVID-19 pandemic.

BBC, Cambridgeshire Live, and Sky News have reported that Kate had been fired from her job as a nurse for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Afterwards, she developed a following online and became a popular influencer within conspiracy circles using misleading and false claims about medical issues.

Meanwhile, Paloma was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2023, but reportedly refused chemotherapy treatment, instead opting for “alternative” therapies like a special diet and juicing.

Dr. Peter Anderson, who saw Paloma at Royal Sussex County Hospital after the heart attack, told the inquiry that the tumor in her chest, which was growing up into her neck, had been restricting the 23-year-old’s airways, according to BBC. The doctor said either that or the tumor’s effect on major blood vessels could have caused the heart attack.

When an attorney asked Kate at this week’s inquiry whether she had previously described chemotherapy as “a dangerous and toxic process” and compared the treatment to “pumping mustard gas” into a person’s veins, the mother responded angrily and called the question “slanderous,” according to the outlet — and denied responsibility for her daughter’s decision to refuse chemo.

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“It doesn’t matter what my view was,” Kate reportedly said, according to the BBC, pointing out her daughter was an adult. “Tt was what Paloma wanted to do.”

But BBC’s expansive feature in June about Paloma’s death showed the lengths that Kate went to sway her daughter’s decision, despite a doctor telling her chemotherapy would give her an 80-percent chance at survival.

“TELL PALOMA NOT TO SIGN [OR] VERBALLY CONSENT TO CHEMO OR ANY TREATMENT,” Kate texted Paloma’s boyfriend during one hospital stay, per the BBC.

Kate ultimately put her daughter in touch with a former business partner, Patrick Vickers, an alternative health practitioner who convinced her that her doctors were “exaggerating” chemo’s effectiveness and suggested she rely on a special diet instead, according to the BBC.

In the end, that’s what Paloma reportedly decided to do.

A coroner reportedly left the inquiry in frustration Wednesday after Dr. Shemirani and his wife continued to get off track during questioning and refused to follow court orders about remaining on topic during their statements, according to the BBC and Cambridgeshire Live.

“Your behavior has been bordering on contemptuous to the court,” Coroner Catherine Wood, who presided over the inquiry, told Dr. Shemirani, according to Cambridgeshire Live.

During another point in Wednesday’s inquiry, a paramedic told the courtroom that Kate had “kept interrupting” first responders as they tried to provide care for Paloma after she collapsed last July.

“We had to be quite firm at some points,” the paramedic, Robin Bass, said, adding that first responders “had to ask for quiet while administering care” for Paloma as Kate allegedly continued to interrupt.

The inquest, which is set to establish what led to Paloma’s death, will continue this week.