Isn't that interesting! I know I've done that quest several times, but I can't remember if I've ever done it with the physician. I wonder if this is an issue with the most recent patch? Probably not, as you said you've searched and couldn't find any mention of it. It may be that your character is glitched in some way. I had a problem once with my kingdom turning black so I couldn't see anything except my character's plumbbob. It happened twice, both times when I was playing the knight I had at that time. I concluded, rightly or wrongly, that the knight might be the problem, deleted that character, and the black kingdom problem has never come back. Who knows why these things happen.
Anyway, if you do further testing or learn more about the problem, I hope you'll let us know. And maybe someone else will have ideas also.
