The Meath Hospital was a general hospital in the Earl of Meath's Liberty in Dublin, Ireland. It was absorbed into the Tallaght Hospital in June 1998.

History

The hospital was opened to serve the sick and poor in the crowded area of the Liberties in Dublin in 1753. A dedicated hospital building was later constructed in the Coombe with Anthony Brabazon, 8th Earl of Meath laying the foundation stone on 10 October 1770. It then moved to larger premises fronting Heytesbury Street off Long Lane in 1822 with its previous premises becoming The Coombe Hospital from then onwards. In the nineteenth century the Meath Hospital achieved worldwide fame as a result of the revolutionary teaching methods and groundbreaking research carried out by Robert Graves and William Stokes, physicians of the hospital. One example was when during a typhus epidemic Robert Graves introduced the revolutionary idea of giving food during the illness ("he fed fevers" was what Graves requested be inscribed on his tombstone). It was absorbed into the Tallaght Hospital in June 1998. The original building was subsequently converted for use as a respite home.

Notable physicians

Notable physicians included: