Contemporary medicine has much to offer in efforts to promote health, prevent illness, diagnose and manage disease, and stave off death. As the populations of all countries age and the armamentarium of medicine expands, the opportunities and choices about what to provide to a given patient in pursuit of these efforts is increasingly costly and complicated. The clinician who provides care for a patient has among the most influential roles in determining the resources used. This book considers ways to foster cost-conscious care at the bedside as a feasible and ethically sound practice. It brings together both empirical evidence about the way doctors take cost into account in their practices, along with analyses from recognized scholars from various disciplines. This introduction defines resource allocation and bedside rationing as it uses the terms. It describes the origins of the book and provide an overview of its contents.