City physician

City physician (German: Stadtphysicus, Stadtphysikus, Stadtarzt; Swedish: stadsfysikus, stadsläkare, Finnish: kaupunginfysikus, kaupunginlääkäri, from Latin physicus) was a historical title in the Late Middle Ages for a physician appointed by the city council. The city physician was responsible for the health of the population, particularly the poor, and the sanitary conditions in the city. His duties also included the supervision of pharmacies and the supervision of those engaged in medical tasks, such as midwives and barber surgeons. In addition, he had forensic duties such as assessing the injuries of living persons, external postmortem examinations, and conducting autopsies in cases of non-natural and unexplained deaths. In times of epidemic, many city physicians published small, printed books of guidelines.

The role existed in what are today a number of European countries, including Germany, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.