Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Coroner Finds Parental Influence Contributed to Paloma Shemirani’s Death After Chemo Refusal

The ruling says parental pressure steered the 23-year-old from potentially curative chemotherapy.

Overview

  • Kent and Medway coroner Catherine Wood concluded that Paloma Shemirani was "adversely influenced" and that her parents' influence "more than minimally" contributed to her death.
  • Medical evidence confirmed a non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and doctors estimated about an 80% chance of recovery with chemotherapy; the coroner said she probably would have survived if supported to accept treatment.
  • Instead of evidence-based care, she followed a parent-led regimen of strict diets, green juices and multiple daily coffee enemas, with messages showing pressure to leave hospital and reject medication.
  • The coroner did not rule unlawful killing, prompting criticism from her brothers, including Gabriel Shemirani, who blamed their mother and called the outcome a failure of the state.
  • She collapsed on 19 July 2024 and died five days later from an unsurvivable brain injury after a prolonged cardiac arrest; the inquest heard her mother alleged paramedic negligence, and the coroner referred two medical witnesses to the GMC over unreliable evidence.