Latest news with #KateShemirani
Sky News
4 hours ago
- Health
- Sky News
Parents of daughter who refused chemotherapy warned over their behaviour in court
The parents of a woman who refused chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis have been warned about their conduct in court during the inquest into her death. Cambridge graduate Paloma Shemirani, 23, collapsed on 19 July 2004 and died five days later on 24 July at Royal Sussex County Hospital, after earlier declining treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She was diagnosed with cancer in autumn 2023. Her mother, Kay "Kate" Shemirani, a well-known conspiracy theorist online, and her father, Dr Faramarz Shemirani, who is "sympathetic" to some of her views, blame medical professionals for their daughter's death. On Tuesday afternoon, Coroner Catherine Wood, presiding over the inquest at Kent and Medway Coroner's Court in Maidstone, left the court due to the parents' behaviour. The inquest, initially set to finish on Wednesday, has been extended, because presenting evidence and questioning witnesses had taken longer than expected. On Tuesday, Mrs Shemirani, who was struck off as a nurse in 2021 for spreading dangerous COVID-19 misinformation, was cross-examined by Dr Shemirani. Questioning broke down when Dr Shemirani, who is understood to have a PhD in computational fluid dynamics, tried to ask his ex-wife's opinion of medical evidence which she would then try to answer, despite warnings from the coroner. "Mrs Shemirani, I've told you not to speak, I'll find you in contempt if you keep on speaking now," the coroner said. "Confine (yourself) to asking questions of this witness as a witness of fact," she told Dr Shemirani. As Dr Shemirani argued back via video-link, the coroner said: "Dr Shemirani, challenge me by judicial review later" before trying to move on. "Of course I will, of course I will," he said. Later, Dr Shemirani attempted once again to raise questions that the coroner had already deemed irrelevant. "I'm going to rise for a few minutes because I'm finding it incredibly difficult to keep you on track," said Ms Wood. Dr Shemirani continued to talk until the coroner shouted: "Dr Shemirani, listen". "Your behaviour has been bordering on contemptuous to the court - when I make a ruling on something you cannot come back," she added. Mrs Shemirani also accused osteopath Nick Gosset of lying under oath earlier in the inquest. Mr Gosset treated Miss Shemirani the day she collapsed and said she had appeared to be in the "last stages of a very difficult disease". He told the court that during his examination, he felt lumps extending from her right shoulder up to her neck, which he recognised as lymphoid masses, adding that in his 43 years of practice, he had "never seen anything like it". Mr Gosset told the court: "It was obvious to me that I was not the right person to be helping her, normally you see a patient like that, you would refer her (to a GP). "Any referral was refused - when I suggested that the proper avenue of approach was through a normal, medical channel she dismissed it." Mrs Shemirani said "his statement under oath is completely opposed with the truth" and has argued her daughter was healthy the day she collapsed.
The Sun
13 hours ago
- Health
- The Sun
‘Anti-vax' mum accused of ‘sacrificing' daughter, 22, who died of ‘treatable cancer' claims she's victim of a witch hunt
A MUM accused by her son of 'sacrificing' his sister, who died from "treatable" cancer, has told an inquest she is the victim of a 'witch hunt'. Kay 'Kate' Shemirani is a former nurse, struck off in 2021 for spreading anti-medicine and anti-vaccine Covid-19 misinformation. 7 7 7 She has denied influencing her 23-year-old daughter Paloma Shemirani's decision to refuse treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma - a type of blood cancer which starts in the lymph nodes. Paloma was a University of Cambridge graduate and a Miss Universe Great Britain 2021 finalist. She collapsed on July 19 last year and died five days later of a heart attack. A few months earlier, doctors told Paloma, who was originally from Uckfield in East Sussex, her cancer was "treatable" and that she had an 80 per cent chance of recovery with chemotherapy. On Monday, the inquest in Maidstone heard Kate deny influencing her daughter's decision. She said: 'It doesn't matter what my view was, it was what Paloma wanted to do.' The BBC reported the court was played a voice note from Kate to Paloma's boyfriend, sent two or three days after the diagnosis at Maidstone Hospital in December 2023. In it, she told him to 'put Paloma in a wheelchair to take her down to the car' and to listen to the message 'in private and away from Paloma's ears'. She also told him to drive 'very carefully without braking sharply'. In response, Kate said she would need the 'forensic data' before agreeing the voice note heard by the court was from her, but added that whoever left the message gave 'fantastic advice'. Two signs of cancer that could be mistaken for cold weather symptoms - and when to see a GP She said she had not wanted Paloma to hear because she would have been frightened that she could be injured if her boyfriend drove too fast. When asked about her views on chemotherapy, Kate said: "Why is this about me and my opinions? Is it a witch hunt?" Paloma's twin brother, Gabriel, previously told the inquest that when Paloma was first diagnosed she was considering chemotherapy. That was 'before their parents started to pressure her against it', he added. "I blame my mother entirely for my sister's death", he said, by "obstructing" his sister from receiving treatment. "In short, I believe that she sacrificed Paloma's life for her own principles, I believe that she should be held accountable for Paloma's death," said Gabriel. He added: 'Paloma had a complicated relationship with our mother, maybe it is because she had a complicated relationship that she decided to rekindle that relationship when she became ill." 7 7 Kate told the inquest she had asked for Paloma to have all her medical notes and results so she could get all the facts and a second opinion from doctors they knew in Iran and Mexico. She said she did not know if the records were ever sent to another oncologist or haematologist for the second opinion 'because they were Paloma's records and she was 22 - an adult'. Alison Hewitt, counsel at the inquest, asked Kate: 'It is the case, isn't it, that you have expressed publicly views which are contrary to chemotherapy... you consider chemotherapy is a dangerous and toxic process and one that you wouldn't advise someone suffering cancer undergoes?' Kate branded the question 'slanderous' and 'not true', adding: 'In all my public appearances I say people should get all the information and then decide.' When pushed on whether she had described chemotherapy as mustard gas, she replied: 'This is not relevant. You're making slanderous accusations. People should be able to choose.' Kate has said she had a tumour removed through surgery. Online, however, she credits alternative therapies for her recovery and says she used a programme including juices and coffee enemas to become 'cancer-free'. The former nurse said she would have supported her daughter 'physically and financially' whatever her decision on receiving treatment. Earlier in the hearing, when describing the months before her daughter's death, Kate said Paloma had chosen treatment which included nutrition, juices and spiritual support, claiming that many of her symptoms had disappeared. Intensive care consultant Dr Peter Anderson told the court a scan showed a large mass in Paloma's chest and neck compressing her airways and affecting major blood vessels. Either could have caused the cardiac arrest, he added. The inquest continues. 7 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatment, as recommended by the NHS Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is usually treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, although some people may not need treatment straight away. In a few cases, if the initial cancer is very small and can be removed during a biopsy, no further treatment may be needed. If non-Hodgkin lymphoma is low grade (slow developing) and a person is well, a period of "watch and wait" is often recommended. This is because some people take many years to develop troublesome symptoms and starting treatment immediately is often felt to be unnecessary. But in other cases, chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells. If non-Hodgkin lymphoma doesn't get better with initial treatment (known as refractory lymphoma), you may have a course of chemotherapy at a stronger dose. But this intensive chemotherapy destroys your bone marrow, and can lead to the following side effects: nausea and vomiting diarrhoea loss of appetite mouth ulcers tiredness skin rashes hair loss infertility, which may be temporary or permanent A stem cell or bone marrow transplant is then needed to replace the damaged bone marrow. Radiotherapy is most often used to treat early-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma, where the cancer is only in one part of the body. And for some types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, you may have a type of medicine called a monoclonal antibody. These medicines attach themselves to both healthy and cancerous cells, and signal to the immune system to attack and kill the cells. Other potential non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatments include: Cancer growth blockers Steroid medicine Immunotherapy Source: NHS
BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
Kate Shemirani arranged alternative cancer care for daughter
A high-profile conspiracy theorist whose daughter died from cancer after refusing chemotherapy organised her care when she left hospital, an inquest has Shemirani, from Uckfield in East Sussex, died aged 23 in July last year, seven months after receiving a cancer diagnosis of non-Hodgkin Monday, the inquest in Maidstone into Paloma's death heard from her mother, Kate Shemirani, a former nurse who was struck off for spreading anti-medicine Covid-19 Shemirani denies influencing her daughter's decision to refuse chemotherapy, saying: "It doesn't matter what my view was, it was what Paloma wanted to do." The inquest was played a voice note from Mrs Shemirani to her daughter's boyfriend, where she told him to "put Paloma in a wheelchair to take her down to the car".The voice note was sent two or three days after Paloma had been diagnosed with cancer at Maidstone Hospital in December Shemirani told him to listen her message "in private and away from Paloma's ears" and that he had to drive Paloma away "very carefully without braking sharply".On Monday, she said she would need the "forensic data" before agreeing the voice note heard by the the court was from her, but added that whoever left the message gave "fantastic advice".She said she had not wanted Paloma to hear because she would have been frightened that she could be injured if her boyfriend drove too fast. When asked about her views on chemotherapy, Mrs Shemirani said: "Why is this about me and my opinions? Is it a witch hunt?"She told the court she had asked for Paloma, a Cambridge graduate, to have all her medical notes and results so she could have all the facts and get a second opinion from doctors they knew in Iran and Shemirani said she did not know if the records were ever sent to another oncologist or haematologist for the second opinion "because they were Paloma's records and she was 22 - an adult".Alison Hewitt, counsel at the inquest, asked Mrs Shemirani: "It is the case, isn't it, that you have expressed publicly views which are contrary to chemotherapy... you consider chemotherapy is a dangerous and toxic process and one that you wouldn't advise someone suffering cancer undergoes?"Mrs Shemirani branded the question "slanderous" and "not true", adding: "In all my public appearances I say people should get all the information and then decide."When pushed on whether she had described chemotherapy as mustard gas, she replied: "This is not relevant. You're making slanderous accusations. People should be able to choose."Mrs Shemirani has said how she had a tumour removed through however, she credits alternative therapies for her recovery and says how she used a programme including juices and coffee enemas to become "cancer-free".The former nurse said she would have supported her daughter "physically and financially" whatever her decision on receiving in the hearing, when describing the months leading up to her daughter's death, Mrs Shemirani said Paloma had chosen treatment which included nutrition, juices and spiritual support, claiming that many of her symptoms had Catherine Wood also heard from intensive care consultant Dr Peter Anderson who saw Paloma at the Royal Sussex County Hospital when paramedics brought her said a scan showed a large mass in her chest and neck which was compressing her airways and affecting major blood could have caused the cardiac arrest, he inquest continues.
Free Malaysia Today
7 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
UK battles anti-vax misinformation after child's death
Liverpool recorded a 74% uptake for both MMR doses, with some areas falling under 50%, compared to 84% nationwide. (EPA Images pic) LONDON : A child's death from measles has sparked urgent calls from British public health officials to get children vaccinated, as the UK faces an onslaught of misinformation on social media, much of it from the US. Measles is a highly infectious disease that can cause serious complications. It is preventable through double MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jabs in early childhood. Health secretary Wes Streeting on July 14 confirmed to parliament that a child had died in the UK of measles. No details have been released, but The Sunday Times and Liverpool Echo newspapers reported the child had been severely ill with measles and other serious health problems in Alder Hey hospital in the northwestern city. Anti-vaxxers quickly posted unconfirmed claims about the death on social media. One British influencer, Ellie Grey, who has more than 200,000 followers on Instagram, posted a video denying the child died from measles. 'Measles isn't this deadly disease… it's not dangerous,' she said. Grey criticised Alder Hey for posting a video 'really, really pushing and manipulating parents into getting the MMR vaccine'. Her video was reposted by another British influencer, Kate Shemirani, a struck-off ex-nurse who posts health conspiracy theories. 'No vaccine has ever been proven safe and no vaccine has ever been proven effective,' Shemirani claimed falsely. Liverpool's public health chief Matthew Ashton attacked those 'spreading misinformation and disinformation about childhood immunisations' in the Echo newspaper, saying 'they need to take a very long, hard look at themselves.' 'For those of you that don't know, measles is a really nasty virus,' he said in a video, adding that the jab is a way of 'protecting yourself and your loved ones'. Alder Hey said it has treated 17 children with measles since June. It posted a video in which a paediatric infectious diseases consultant, Andrew McArdle, addresses measles 'myths', including that the MMR jab causes autism. This false claim comes from a debunked 1998 study by a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who was later struck off. But it sparked an international slump in vaccinations. 'Lingering questions' Benjamin Kasstan-Dabush, a medical anthropologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told AFP there are still 'lingering questions around the Wakefield era'. He talked to parents who had delayed vaccinating their children, finding reasons included life events and difficulty getting health appointments, but also misinformation. 'We're obviously talking about a different generation of parents, who might be engaging with that Wakefield legacy through social media, through the internet, and of course through Kennedy,' he said. US President Donald Trump appointed Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary despite his promotion of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Kennedy fired all 17 experts on a key vaccine advisory panel and appointed a scientist who warned against Covid jabs. In the United States, 'misinformation is being produced in the highest echelons of the Trump administration', which 'circulates across the internet', Kasstan-Dabush said. In a sign of how narratives spread, a Telegram group airing conspiracies called Liverpool TPR, which has around 2,000 members, regularly posts links to anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense once chaired by Kennedy. In the past few weeks the UK health security agency has amplified its social media coverage on vaccinations, a spokesman said. In a video in response to the reported death, Vanessa Saliba, a consultant epidemiologist, explained the MMR jab protects others, including those 'receiving treatment like chemotherapy that can weaken or wipe out their immunity'. Take-up of the MMR jab needs to be 95% for herd immunity, according to the World Health Organisation. The UK has never hit this target. In Liverpool, uptake for both doses is only around 74% and below 50% in some areas, according to Ashton, while the UK rate is 84%. After Wakefield's autism claims, confirmed measles cases topped 2,000 in England and Wales in 2012 before dropping. But last year, cases soared again. The same trend is happening in other countries. Europe last year reported the highest number of cases in over 25 years; the United States has recorded its worst measles epidemic in over 30 years. Canada, which officially eradicated measles in 1998, has registered more than 3,500 cases this year. An Ontario infectious diseases doctor, Alon Vaisman, told AFP: 'You're fighting against the wall of disinformation and lies.'
The Sun
05-08-2025
- Health
- The Sun
My sister choked to death on tumours after conspiracy mum told her to refuse treatment – she must be banned
WHEN devastated Gabriel Shemirani heard his twin sister Paloma had died, he could not believe it. He had been told months ago that the 23-year-old Cambridge graduate's cancer was curable — but she had refused life-saving chemotherapy after going to live with their anti-vaxxer mum. 7 7 In a doomed attempt to cure her non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Paloma, from Uckfield, East Sussex, had followed a bogus coffee-based treatment promoted by the Australian cancer faker Belle Gibson. Recalling the heartbreaking moment a friend told him his sister had died after choking on her tumours, Gabriel tells The Sun: 'That's the most difficult part, because you're trying to do everything in your brain to think it's not real, it's not true. 'And every time you utter the words to someone else, that 'Paloma is dead' it feels like you're being burned alive.' At an inquest in Maidstone, Kent, last week, Gabriel blamed his mother Kate Shemirani — a former NHS nurse — for the death of his sister. 'People are dying. This needs to stop' Kate, 59, was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in May 2021 after claiming that the Covid virus was a hoax. She wrote that 'the NHS is the new Auschwitz' and regularly posted messages on social media opposing chemotherapy. Now she is advertising herself as a 'natural nurse' on her website. Gabriel, 24, wants a change in the law to protect patients from medical misinformation. The economics and maths student says: 'I couldn't save my sister, but there's still time to save others. 'People are dying. This needs to stop. Mum sacrificed my sister for anti-vax views, says twin of woman who died after refusing chemo for 'treatable' cancer 'The law is so out-of-date that we can have a woman that's killed her daughter still claiming to be a nurse. 'I believe my sister was being coerced. It's conspiratorial coercion when you convince her the elites are going to kill them, big pharma's going to kill them, even the doctors at the hospital are going to kill them.' Gabriel's mother has been banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok but was reinstated on X after billionaire Elon Musk took over. She denies responsibility — and blames the paramedics who tried to save her daughter's life. A year after Paloma's death, Gabriel is still feeling the loss of his sister. He says: 'With a twin they've always been there by your side. 'There's so much that doesn't need to be said because you already understand it, — it's almost like you have your own language. We were incredibly close — at no point did we ever fall out.' Growing up together with two other siblings in a troubled household also strengthened their bond. I wasn't able to have any meaningful conversation with my sister because she was out of it. That was the last time I saw Paloma. Gabriel on sister Paloma Their Iranian father Faramarz believed in conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the US government blew up the Twin Towers in New York on 9/11. From the age of nine, his mother told him to stop using suncream, and a couple of years later banned the kids from drinking tap water. At the inquest, Gabriel also claimed that she had been 'emotionally distant' and physically abusive during his childhood. In 2012, Kate was diagnosed with cancer, which she survived after having a double mastectomy. But she credits her survival to alternative treatments, including the controversial Gerson therapy which involves taking coffee enemas. Belle Gibson, who was the subject of the Netflix drama Apple Cider Vinegar, promoted the fake Gerson 'cure' before it was revealed she did not have terminal brain cancer. Like Gibson, Kate became a wellness guru — and Gabriel says: 'I think she saw her way to get that attention she'd always craved.' When the pandemic began in 2020, Gabriel was the last sibling living at the family home, with his father having moved back to Iran after separating from Kate six years earlier. But he moved out, preferring to 'sofa surf' over being locked down with his mother — and he says he 'wasn't surprised' when her extreme views made headlines. During a protest in London's Trafalgar Square in 2021, Kate asked for the names of doctors and nurses to be sent to her, before warning: 'At the Nuremberg Trials, the doctors and nurses stood trial and they hung.' 7 Gabriel thought his sister was free of his mum's influence — but that all changed when Paloma was told she had cancer in late December 2023 and went to live back at home. Fearing that his sister wasn't going to accept the cancer treatment recommended by the NHS, Gabriel went to visit her on Christmas Day. He says he argued with his mum, adding: 'I wasn't able to have any meaningful conversation with my sister because she was out of it. That was the last time I saw Paloma.' Blocked from visiting, Gabriel sent messages begging Paloma to try chemotherapy. He received no response, so he took the extraordinary measure of trying to take his mum to the High Court, arguing that his sister was being 'coerced' by her. 'I don't talk to her, I have no feelings for her' Gabriel also asked social services to investigate, but claims they only spoke to Paloma on the phone while her mum was in the room. He says: 'For four or five months, I was living in constant fear that I was gonna get that phone call from someone saying my sister had died.' Unknown to him, his sister's condition was deteriorating rapidly. After collapsing at her mother's home on July 19 last year, Paloma was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital. Osteopath Nick Gosset, who assessed Paloma that day, told the inquest she was 'a young lady who was in the last stages of a very difficult disease, and she had declined to engage with conventional treatment.' The doctor 'had never seen anything like' the amount of growths going from her right shoulder to her neck during his 43 years in medicine. Five days later Paloma's life support machine was shut off, she had a heart attack as a result of the cancer. It would be another six days before Gabriel learned his sister had died. I think people like my mum should be regulated like a doctor should be regulated. If you are making medical claims, health claims, you should be held to account. Gabriel on his mother Kate Neither he nor his brother Sebastian were told about the funeral which took place in August last year. Gabriel says: 'She was cremated without our knowledge.' Now he no longer wants to have anything to do with 'that woman.' Gabriel, who calls his mum by her real name Kay, says: 'We're complete strangers. I don't talk to her — I have no feelings for her.' Kate's version of events is very different to the medical practitioners who treated Paloma. She claims on her blog that her daughter 'did not die of cancer' and was instead the victim of medical negligence. Kate says that paramedics should not have given Paloma adrenaline. On her website, she accuses the coroner of attempting to 'harass' her and 'acting unlawfully.' The former nurse also says that 'viruses and their transmission was invented' and that 5G masts were responsible for Covid. She offers one-hour consultations and branded vitamins for £75 a bottle through her website. The inquest is set to resume next week and take three days to conclude. Whatever verdict the coroner gives, this battle is not over for Gabriel. He is on a mission to properly regulate the ever-growing alternative medicine industry. Gabriel wants to prevent others relying on unproven treatments and has spoken out on the BBC's Panorama documentary Cancer Conspiracy Theories. He says: 'I think people like my mum should be regulated like a doctor should be regulated. 'If you are making medical claims, health claims, you should be held to account.' The global wellness industry is valued at over £5trillion and the authorities are struggling to challenge the countless over-inflated claims being made for natural remedies. Vitamins and a healthier diet can help cancer patients, but there is no scientific basis for claims that they are alternatives to proven treatments such as chemotherapy. Gabriel wants the Online Safety Act — designed to prevent children accessing harmful material and adults seeing illegal content — to also be used to stop medical misinformation. He says: 'Harmful but legal is still allowed for adults. These laws around promotion of treatments for cancer need to be changed.' Until then, 'natural nurse' Kate will continue to try to influence vulnerable patients hoping for a miracle cure. 7 7
