My Years as a Trainee Doctor in 1970's Ireland. Owen Gallagher began work at Meath Hospital (now part of Tallaght Hospital) in the early 1970's. This was a time when consultants wielded enormous power and could easily destroy a young doctors career. Gallagher moved around the different departments and encountered a wealth of extraordinary characters, from the porter who moonlighted as a doctor when A&E was under pressure, to the patient whose letter from his GP read: "I am referring this man to you for assessment. I think he's bad; he thinks he's mad." A funny, touching account of a time as a trainee.