How the Gerson diet can kill you.

A tragic case of deadly disinformation.

I have written umpteen times about misinformation and disinformation since the pandemic began. I am sad to see the purveyors of various forms of Bullshit, despite many excellent debunking and fact-checking sites, the fundamental strength of science and the little matter of proven facts and data are alive and thriving in the world of Freedom of Misinformation.

How much this matters hit home today as I read with sadness and a degree of anger the demise of a young woman who died of the effects of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma treated with the ultimate killer SCAM (So Called Alternative Medicine) called Gerson Therapy under the influence of none other than her own mother.

I share her picture to bring home the point; it has been shared by her brothers who state that Paloma was killed by her mother’s conspiracy theories. It is all the more tragic as she had an 80% chance of survival with the correct treatment.

Without treatment, and as would be expected, Palomas tumour spread into her armpit. Instead of acknowledging the failure of her approach, her mother doubled down by assuring her that this clear spread of the cancer was actually due to the cancer ‘going out of her body’. Another fatal error.

Paloma, a Cambridge graduate, died aged 23 from a heart attack related to the untreated tumours progression. Her brothers blame their mother for her demise. One, Gabriel saying to the BBC:

"I wasn't able to stop my sister from dying. But it would mean the world to me if I could make it that she wasn't just another in a long line of people that die in this way,"

Her mother, Kate Shemirani, was a nurse who had previously been struck off for COVID related disinformation. I clearly remember spouting her conspiracies in public meetings using the title of an NHS Nurse: the pandemic was a hoax; the virus had been invented; the vaccine was designed to kill people etc etc.

She faded into well-earned obscurity after being prohibited from being able to harm patients by the General Nursing Council striking her off and was banned from social media platforms. Now with X and Meta grovelling to Trump led Freedom of Misinformation, she has reinvented her online self as the “Natural Nurse”, selling the very advice that led to the death of her daughter.

In the past, she had he own breast cancer treated with definitive surgery, but went on the claim the cure was due to a ‘natural’ diet, as have others who decline adjunct chemo after surgery. It’s a con.

Gerson Therapy is a SCAM based on a bonkers selection of healthy foods, restriction of others, coffee and ozone enemas. It has no evidence behind it and refusing or delaying treatment for cancer due to it will cause harm and death. It is a lucrative and deadly confidence trick.

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND YORU LIFE - DON’T BUY INTO IT!!

On social media Kate, according to the BBC, is now blaming doctors for killing her daughter, clearly seeking to shift her own guilt to others. In my opinion, her mind is severely damaged, likely beyond repair, and it’s now important to prevent her doing more harm to others.

My conclusion is that there should more legal action against those who offer health advice which causes harm either through direct effects of the therapy or by causing the victim to avoid lifesaving treatment. The prosecution could argue the case for the malign influence of the mother being close to manslaughter, the defence that Paloma was responsible for making her own decisions.

An Inquest into Palomas death is due next month. I hope the social media platforms that now broadcast information about the Gerson Therapy and others will be taken to task and the Crown Prosecution Service at least have a look at the case against all those who guided this poor young woman to her death.