New details are emerging from the inquest into the passing of a 23 year old English woman last year.
Paloma Shemirani lost her battle with cancer in July of 2024, which some people say was a result of her refusing chemotherapy.
In an inquest that began in mid July of 2025, investigators are looking into whether Paloma’s mother, Kate, influenced her into not using chemo treatment.
“I don’t want to undergo such a harsh treatment” Paloma’s statement is read during the inquest
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
Her mother Kay, or Kate, Shemirani, who is a known conspiracy theorist, claims Paloma was mistreated by doctors.
The inquest happening at Oakwood House in Maidstone, Kent in the U.K. started earlier this month, and includes statements written by Paloma before she passed that are being read to the court.
In one statement, Paloma compared her suggested chemo treatment at the National Health Service to “experiments carried out at Auschwitz,” referring to the Nazi concentration camp.
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
Other statements included Paloma’s assertion that she was “anti-vax,” and that her diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma was an "absurd fantasy, with no proof."
Paloma, who graduated from Cambridge, described the diagnosis as "suspected and unconfirmed," saying that she preferred ”natural healing" and that she feared that if she were to survive chemotherapy it might make her infertile.
Image credits: Dee Mani/Facebook
"I do not want to undergo such a harsh treatment that could even kill me when there is a possibility this is not cancer," she said.
Paloma’s statement said that she is “far from being a vulnerable young adult,” and that she has practiced the same principles that she grew up with while at Cambridge in regards to being healthy and avoiding things like tap water.
Paloma’s mother was reprimanded during the inquest
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
Paloma’s mother, meanwhile, joined the inquest via video call. Reports say at certain times she was crying, and at others holding up photos of her late daughter.
At one point, the lead coroner Catherine Wood, said Kate was being disruptive because she was insisting on points that were irrelevant, like that participants were mis-pronouncing her name.
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
"I am going to rise, for Ms Shemirani to reflect on her behaviour in court, this is unacceptable. Let's have a pause for tempers to d*e down because you are clearly becoming over-fixated on a detail," Wood told the court.
In 2021, Kate was let go from her role as an NHS nurse for spreading conspiracy theories. A statement read during the inquest said she was “struck off as a nurse in 2021 after a committee found she had spread COVID-19 misinformation and put the public at a significant risk of harm.”
Growing up, Paloma and her brothers were taught outlandish conspiracy theories
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
Paloma’s older brother Sebastian, and her twin brother Gabriel have reached out to the BBC to tell their story. In interviews they have said that they’re sharing their ordeal in order to prevent other people from going through something similar.
"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," Sebastian told the BBC.
Image credits: This Morning
Image credits: This Morning
They described their childhood in the small Sussex town of Uckfield as riddled with false theories and conspiracies.
“The children absorbed outlandish ideas, including that the Royal Family were shape-shifting lizards,” the BBC article says. "As a young child, you trust your parents. So you see that as a truth," Gabriel told the publication.
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
Image credits: Kate Shemirani/Facebook
The brothers said that they think social media companies should take stronger action against medical misinformation.
"I wasn't able to stop my sister from dying. But it would mean the world to me if I could make it that she wasn't just another in a long line of people that d*e in this way," Gabriel told the BBC.
Media reports say even prior to Paloma’s passing, they had initiated a case to look into the fact that she had refused chemo to treat her cancer, but she passed before it could begin.
Netizens have mixed reactions to Paloma's decision
