Cambridge graduate who refused chemotherapy was ‘brainwashed’, says brother

A Cambridge graduate who died after refusing cancer treatment “never” made a free choice because she has been “brainwashed” by their parents, her brother has said.

Paloma Shemirani, 23, was “adversely influenced” by her parents and others into not having chemotherapy after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a coroner has found.

She instead followed an “alternative treatment programme” led by her mother, prominent online conspiracy theorist Kate “Kay” Shemirani.

Paloma’s brothers have alleged that their parents were abusive and explained that they were lectured as children about medical conspiracy theories.

Her older brother Sebastian Shemirani, 26, said: “So Paloma was brainwashed from when she was born.

“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.”

He said Paloma was the sibling who had the “closest relationship” to their mother when she was diagnosed which made her more susceptible to be influenced.

Mr Shemirani 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.”

Paloma’s twin brother Gabriel Shemirani, 24, had pushed for coroner Catherine Wood to find her death an “unlawful killing” by his mother and was hopeful after hearing her find that Ms Shemirani was “encouraging and influencing” her daughter’s decisions.

For unlawful killing by gross negligence to be found, the coroner would have to conclude that a person had a duty of care which they failed to meet, and that their impact on the balance of probabilities led to a person’s death.

Ms Wood acknowledged that Ms Shemirani had taken on a nursing role and “did not meet the duty of care” required of her.

“I find that it is self-evident that a failure to treat cancer leads to a risk of death,” she said.

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

“If you’re going to kill, kill in a group,” Gabriel Shemirani said sarcastically outside court.

The coroner also referred psychotherapist Ali Ajaz and consultant histopathologist Cordelia Kirchoff-Stewens to the General Medical Council after they gave unreliable evidence during the inquest.