These concerns are shared by many scholars. Managed care plans, in turn, employ various methods to encourage physicians to limit spending on plan enrollees. Confronted with these financial pressures, physicians may turn to assisted suicide as a means of reducing the costs of caring for enrollees. Physicians also may feel that they must represent the interests of society in encouraging patients to choose less costly alternatives. They may favor assisted suicide, particularly for older patients, in line with the beliefs of those like Daniel Callahan who think that the elderly have enjoyed enough of the resources of society and should make way for the young.
Hospitals are under economic constraints similar to managed care plans.
In some cases, the hospital actually may be part of a managed care plan. In other cases, such as under Medicare, the hospital may be paid a fixed amount for a patient regardless of how long the patient stays in the hospital or what services the patient receives. The second type of economic objection to physician-assisted suicide focuses on the role of the patient's family. Families, it is feared, may pressure patients to choose assisted suicide to avoid spending money that the patient otherwise could leave to the family. Or, family members may exert pressure because they are spending too much of their own money.