‘Beautiful’ Cambridge graduate from Uckfield died after refusing chemotherapy

A 23-year-old Cambridge graduate who grew up in Uckfield died after refusing chemotherapy, a coroner has said.

Paloma Shemirani, a former pupil at Roedean School, sadly lost her cancer battle in July 2024. She died at The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, after suffering a cardiac arrest. This was just seven short months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In June, Paloma was the subject of an episode of BBC's Panorama, in which said she was the daughter of former nurse Kate Shemirani, who had become known for her anti-vaccination views.

The findings and conclusion document for the inquest into her death have been published. 

The document said: “Paloma was described by all family members as an intelligent and beautiful young woman who was just embarking on her fully independent adult life. She had done very well academically and had graduated from University in the summer of 2023 with a degree in Portuguese and Spanish.

By the Autumn of 2023, she had obtained a job with a yacht charter company.”

It stated that Paloma has died as a result of the progress and effects of a naturally occurring disease, which was curable if treated.

It went on to say that Paloma refused treatment, which ‘would have given her an 80 per cent chance of complete cure, with a greater chance of survival from other treatments if required’.

It said: “She had mental capacity in relation to this decision making but was highly influenced in this regard, by others, at a time of real vulnerability.”

It also said: “After speaking to others, she decided not to proceed with chemotherapy, and she declined a subsequent offer of advice and a second opinion from the Royal Marsden Hospital.”

It explained that Paloma had ‘returned to live at her mother’s home where, from January 2024 onwards, she pursued a regime of Gerson therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and cranial osteopathy’. The document described Gerson therapy as ‘an alternative regime which involved diet, juices and supplements’.

But the coroner said: “It is almost impossible to unpick the precise extent to which Paloma’s decision making was shaped by Mrs Shemirani alone.”

She said: “I have found Mrs Shemirani’s care of her daughter to be incomprehensible in many ways, I do not consider that it is appropriate to record a conclusion of Unlawful Killing.”