Pelzman's Picks: Dangers of Compassionate Use

• Although some patients may benefit from experimental drugs, the risks may be greater than the rewards, Ariana Eunjung Cha writes in The Washington Post ~ The dark side of 'compassionate use' of experimental drugs

• Ushma D. Upadhyay discusses recent research suggesting that anti-abortion laws "are not just covers for restricting abortion access -- they can actually harm women's health," in The New York Times ~ We Need Abortion Laws Based on Science

• Are small practices in peril? Steven Findlay asks in Kaiser Health News ~ Doctors Raise Concerns For Small Practices In Medicare's New Payment System

• Depression diagnosis and care may need a serious overhaul, Nicholas Bakalar writes in The New York Times ~ Depression Is Poorly Diagnosed and Often Goes Untreated

• Arthur R. Williams, MD, MBE, and Adam Bisaga, MD, explore how the approach to combatting the AIDS epidemic may apply to the opioid epidemic, in New England Journal of Medicine ~ From AIDS to Opioids -- How to Combat an Epidemic

• New estimates suggest that "there could be 31.9 million adults using marijuana -- with 8.4 million of them using it a lot," Ariana Eunjung Cha writes in The Washington Post ~ A growing number of U.S. adults are using pot. But are their perceptions of risks realistic?

• Anders H. Frid, MD, and colleagues detail the most up-to-date recommendations for insulin use in Mayo Clinic Proceedings ~ New Insulin Delivery Recommendations

Fred N. Pelzman, MD, of Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates and weekly blogger for MedPage Today, follows what's going on in the world of primary care medicine. Pelzman's Picks is a compilation of links to blogs, articles, tweets, journal studies, opinion pieces, and news briefs related to primary care that caught his eye.

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