Hey, maybe just a quirk bug - some time after completing the White Phial quest I wanted to check if Nurelion (the alchemist in Windhelm) managed to create the potion.
I found him upstairs. He was shouting something about coins at me which seemed strange to me since he was lying in his bed and apparently sleeping.
So I started the converstaion with him and voila - a message window popped up saying that "Nurelion is asleep and dying". Funny.

What do you figure, is it just a bug or a part of some quest I'm missing?

Probably a bug with the follow up quest.
I never got that one either