US high-stakes poker player Tom Dwan has promised to initiate “multiple lawsuits” after spending two weeks in a London psychiatric facility due to an apparent mental health emergency.
On April 29, Dwan started tweeting from the Park Royal Centre for Mental Health in West London, alleging that the hospital personnel were “attempting to harm either me or the majority of my brain” via enforced treatment.
The sequence of baffling and frequently unclear posts alluded to foreign intelligence agencies and “US operational command.” They stated that Dwan thought his water was laced with drugs and that his phone had been interfered with.
Certain tweets mentioned politicians, such as US President Donald Trump, US Vice President J.D. Vance, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Delusions of persecution?
The tweets indicated that Dwan might be having persecutory delusions, which align with disorders such as acute psychosis or manic episodes that include psychotic symptoms.
Dwan claimed that the UK police fractured his rib and hand, and may have also punctured a lung. A PokerNews journalist from the UK, Will Shillibier, managed to visit Dwan at Park Royal hospital and noted that he “appeared healthy and seemed physically uninjured.”
On Saturday, 21 days after his ordeal started, a much clearer Dwan tweeted that he was heading back to the US, mentioning he had a legal matter to resolve with the Park Royal Hospital.
“I’ll be filing many complaints and a buncha diff lawsuits, along with some various tweets and other PR… But only proper channels type stuff, cool imo,” he tweeted.
Dwan refuted claims that the incident had been triggered by the use of recreational drugs.
Does Dwan Have a Legal Argument?
In the UK, a person may be held under the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 (amended 2007) if they are assessed to have a mental disorder and if such detention is judged essential for their well-being or safety, or for safeguarding others.
This evaluation and suggestion must be conducted by two physicians and a certified mental health expert. According to Section 2 of the MHA, a person may be held for evaluation and potentially treatment for a maximum of 28 days. Section 3 allows for detention for treatment for a period of six months, which can be renewed.
In these instances, care may be provided without the patient's approval if it is considered vital for their well-being or safety, or to safeguard others.
Under the MHA, detainees possess particular rights, such as the right to legal counsel, the right to challenge their detention before the Mental Health Tribunal, and the right to notify their closest relative about their situation.
If the healthcare providers adhered to the MHA and operated within its legal limits, Dwan's legal choices would be restricted. However, he asserts that they didn't.
“They took my phone n devices, didn’t give in to my repeated requests for medical care, or my legal rights (nearest relative, tribunal, imho), for ~2weeks, and did what they could to bar me from all contact,” Dwan tweeted on Monday. “There were a few [decent] ppl, but majority followed (illegal) orders.”
Dwan confessed that his phone was confiscated after he posted a picture of an NHS employee to his audience of over 200,000 followers.
What occurred with Dwan?
Reconstructing the events leading to Dwan’s initial arrest is challenging. In previous tweets, he stated that “an individual impersonating a flight attendant” on the journey to London had “connected his phone to charge and deleted its browser history and other information.”
Dwan seemed to think that the flight attendant was involved in a scheme to "fabricate charges" against him.
Daniel Negreanu, during the "Mania" podcast he co-hosts with his wife, Amanda Leatherman, shared the following insights.
“He was flying to London to meet with a guy – I won’t name him, but I know who it is – and at the airport, apparently, he was acting crazy, talking crazy or whatever.”
Although Negreanu expressed worry for Dwan's mental well-being, he noted observing something that felt “a little ‘off’ with him” years prior. Negreanu shared a story from Aria Las Vegas, where Dwan came up to him and mentioned he had something significant to communicate.
However, Dwan requested Negreanu to hand over his phone so their discussion could remain unrecorded. Ultimately, Negreanu consented to take the battery out of his phone. Then Dwan went on to “just chat casually,” as stated by Negreanu.
“He’s always had a little bit of a delusion of grandeur, if you will,” Negreanu added. “He sees something going on in the news and he’s like ‘Let me talk to Putin, I’ll handle it.’ He believes he can go and talk to Kim Jung Un and fix things. And he really believes that.”