Woman who died after refusing chemo had daily coffee enemas

A woman who died after refusing chemotherapy was having “five coffee enemas a day” under her mother’s care, her brother told an inquest.

Paloma Shemirani, who had declined chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, suffered a fatal heart attack caused by her tumour at the Royal Sussex County Hospital on 24 July last year.

Her mother, Kate Shemirani, a disgraced nurse who rose to prominence on social media sharing Covid-19 misinformation, had been involved in her daughter’s “treatment programme”.

Paloma’s brother Gabriel Shemirani, along with his other sibling Sebastian, blames their mother’s anti-medicine conspiracy theories for her death at 23.

Gabriel Shemirani was at Tuesday’s hearing in Maidstone, Kent, and he cross-examined Ali Ajaz, a forensic psychiatrist who spent seven sessions with Paloma on the recommendation of her mother.

Mr Shemirani asserted that those meetings were “coloured by my mother’s control”, which Dr Ajaz said was speculation.

Dr Ajaz added that it was not his job to comment on the efficacy of her devised treatment programme.

“My sister was having coffee enemas daily, would it worry you now if she had told you that?” asked Mr Shemirani .

“I don’t know anything about coffee enemas,” said Dr Ajaz.

The inquest also heard that Paloma’s cancer treatment revolved largely around a strict diet and “lots of green juices”.

“Do you think my mum might have been scaring Paloma and making her think she was the only one who could save her?” asked Mr Shemirani.

“I don’t know, you can speculate for sure,” said Dr Ajaz.

Previously the doctor had provided an assessment of Paloma during High Court proceedings which read: “I have no concerns that Ms Shemirani has been coerced or unduly influenced by any individual when making a decision about her own medical treatment.”

Also shown was an email exchange between Dr Ajaz and Paloma in which he described her concerns about having been treated against her will in hospital as “utterly shocking and sickening revelations”.

“How did that email get there? It certainly didn’t come from myself,” he replied.

Dr Ajaz has also appeared on Kate Shemirani’s controversial podcast as a medical expert three times, and she had referred multiple patients to him.

Ms Shemirani was struck off as a nurse in 2021, and a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee found that the messages she had spread during the pandemic had “put the public at a significant risk of harm”.

Ms Shemirani, who attended the inquest via video link, was warned for a second day in a row that her conduct during the hearing was “unacceptable”.

She was seen raising signs in front of the camera while on mute, along with trying to introduce new allegations during her questioning of Dr Ajaz.

Coroner Catherine Wood told her she was “bordering on contempt of court”.

The inquest continues.