An osteopath who treated a young woman who refused cancer treatment knew he “was not the right person to be helping her” and was “horrified” to hear of her death, an inquest heard.
Cambridge graduate Paloma Shemirani, 23, died at Royal Sussex County Hospital on July 24 2024, after declining the treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Her mother, Kay “Kate” Shemirani, who rose to prominence on social media while sharing Covid-19 conspiracy theories, was involved in her daughter’s alternative “treatment programme”.
On Wednesday, osteopath Nick Gosset who saw Paloma on July 19 2024, the day that she collapsed and was taken to hospital by air ambulance, advised her to seek further medical support, the inquest at Kent and Medway Coroner’s Court, in Maidstone, Kent heard.
He said that when he inspected her he could feel lumps in her right shoulder going all the way up into her neck, which he identified as lymphoid mass and that he “had never seen anything like it” in 43 years of practice.
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.
“I felt I was presented with a young woman – and I’m not an expert in this, my field is biomechanics – a young lady who was in the last stages of a very difficult disease, and she had declined to engage with conventional treatment.”
He added that he felt “aggrieved” that he had been put in that professional position.
“I was left with no good choices and the only choice I felt I had at the time was to offer her the opportunity to return where I might be able to persuade her of the importance of seeking further medical support,” said Mr Gosset.
Arunodaya Mohan, a consultant haematologist at Maidstone Hospital, told Paloma in 2023 that she had an 80% chance of recovery if she had chemotherapy, the inquest heard previously.
Ms Shemirani told the court that she did not believe the osteopath had that conversation with her daughter, as they were “very close” and Paloma did not tell her after the session.
When asked how he felt when he was told of Paloma’s death he said: “I think I was horrified,” before clarifying that he was surprised by the rapidity but not by her death.
“I was well aware that she was extremely ill … I did not feel that she needed immediate medical support,” said Mr Gosset.
Yesterday, Paloma’s GP told the court that conditions were in place that if Paloma felt any change in her condition, including shortness of breath, she would seek conventional medical attention.
Mr Gosset told the coroner that Ms Shemirani was exhibiting those symptoms on the day he saw her.
He said: “May I observe that in the evidence of the GP yesterday that there was a clear understanding made that should Paloma’s situation deteriorate and that included any shortness of breath that there would be an immediate response to call the emergency services or present to A&E.”
He added that “she came to me with just such a change in situation” and told Ms Shemirani: “I have to say that I am deeply aggrieved that you should put me in that professional position.”
The inquest continues.
