{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T06:50:27Z","timestamp":1791442227500,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Sociology Health &amp; Illness"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Notions of good or bad luck sit uncomfortably in contemporary medical practice defined by efforts to control life through biomedical knowledge and skilled expertise. Yet, talk about luck is common in healthcare to explain medical courses of action. Framing medical results as fortunate or unfortunate bridges the gap between predicted probabilities and variation in individual cases without undermining scientific neutrality. Luck mediates between the rational ideal of biomedical determinism that does not easily account for variable health outcomes and the magical invocation of faith or fate that denotes a moral judgement. Drawing from ethnographic studies of heart transplantation and fertility medicine, we find that luck is employed as an anticipatory frame to guide decision\u2010making in medicine and as a retroactive frame to justify unlikely outcomes. Invoking luck primes patients for the possibility of a favourable outcome and inserts a positive bias in medical care. The analysis underlines how luck frames in healthcare can shift attention away from structural reasons for disparate outcomes, attempt to absolve healthcare providers of blame from medical errors and promote continuing treatment. These findings indicate that focusing on when healthcare providers and patients invoke luck reveals the scope and limits of medical power and control.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.70276","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T06:04:22Z","timestamp":1791439462000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Better to Be Lucky Than Good: How Clinicians and Patients Frame Medical Outcomes"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"48","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6009-2993","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eliza","family":"Brown","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sociology University of California, Berkeley  Berkeley California USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4751-2893","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefan","family":"Timmermans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sociology University of California, Los Angeles  Los Angeles California USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_11_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0277\u20109536(95)00366\u20105"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1525\/9780520353787","volume-title":"Deciding Who Lives: Fateful Choices in the Intensive Care Nursery","author":"Anspach R.","year":"1993"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0277\u20109536(01)00309\u20104"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118234358","volume-title":"The Sociology of Medical Screening: Critical Perspectives, New Directions","author":"Armstrong N.","year":"2012"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2008.02.017"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2014.05.036"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.soc.26.1.611"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_9_1","volume-title":"Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure","author":"Bosk C. L.","year":"1979"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0003122420907066"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2020.113118"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/00221465231154956"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/ser\/mwaf025"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_14_1","volume-title":"Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness","author":"Conrad P.","year":"1980"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2190\/3h2h\u20103xjn\u20103kay\u2010g9ny"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/681961"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315015842","volume-title":"Risk and Blame","author":"Douglas P. M.","year":"2013"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1548\u20101387.2010.01136.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_19_1","volume-title":"Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande","author":"Evans\u2010Pritchard E. S.","year":"1937"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_20_1","volume-title":"The Student Physician","author":"Fox R. C.","year":"1957"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_21_1","volume-title":"Embodied Progress: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception","author":"Franklin S.","year":"1997"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_22_1","volume-title":"Professional Dominance: The Social Structure of Medical Care","author":"Freidson E.","year":"1970"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/sf\/soad131"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2095325"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_25_1","volume-title":"Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience","author":"Goffman E.","year":"1974"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_26_1","volume-title":"Risk and Misfortune: A Social Construction of Accidents","author":"Green J.","year":"1997"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_27_1","volume-title":"The Social Construction of What?","author":"Hacking I.","year":"1999"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_28_1","volume-title":"The Sociological Eye: Selected Papers","author":"Hughes E.","year":"1971"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467\u20109566.13297"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_30_1","volume-title":"Doctors\u2019 Orders: The Making of Status Hierarchies in an Elite Profession","author":"Jenkins T.","year":"2020"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5402\/2012\/278730"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0141\u20109889.2004.00420.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1377\/hlthaff.2023.01643"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1468\u20104446.12307"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_35_1","volume-title":"The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction","author":"Martin E.","year":"1987"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_36_1","volume-title":"Refashioning Race: How Global Cosmetic Surgery Crafts New Beauty Standards","author":"Menon A. V.","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1573\u20107861.2009.01127.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_38_1","volume-title":"The Social System","author":"Parsons T.","year":"1951"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467\u20109566.00300"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_40_1","volume-title":"The Random Factor: How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us","author":"Rank M. R.","year":"2024"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1525\/9780520952256","volume-title":"God\u2019s Laboratory: Assisted Reproduction in the Andes","author":"Roberts E. F.\u00a0S.","year":"2012"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0735275120941178"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7758\/rsf.2024.10.5.04"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_44_1","volume-title":"The Phenomenology of the Social World","author":"Schutz A.","year":"1967"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_45_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038595029004003"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/08351813.2017.1375804"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_47_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226829685.001.0001","volume-title":"The Accidental Equalizer: How Luck Determines Pay After College","author":"Streib J.","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.whi.2024.03.005"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_49_1","volume-title":"Sudden Death and the Myth of CPR","author":"Timmermans S.","year":"1999"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0022146510386794"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226817729.001.0001","volume-title":"Data Analysis in Qualitative Research: Theorizing With Abductive Analysis","author":"Timmermans S.","year":"2022"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_52_1","unstructured":"Timmermans S.under review. \u201cThe Problem of Unruly Humans: Boundary Subject Cultivation as an Organizational Risk Mitigation Strategy.\u201d"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467\u20109566.12974"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_54_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev\u2010soc\u2010031324\u2010115112"},{"key":"e_1_2_11_55_1","volume-title":"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism","author":"Weber M.","year":"2002"}],"container-title":["Sociology of Health &amp; Illness"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/1467-9566.70276","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1111\/1467-9566.70276","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/1467-9566.70276","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T06:04:29Z","timestamp":1791439469000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/1467-9566.70276"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"references-count":54,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,11]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/1467-9566.70276"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-9566.70276","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0141-9889","1467-9566"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0141-9889","type":"print"},{"value":"1467-9566","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2026-05-21","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-09-24","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-10-07","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e70276"}}