I'm a doctor in the US, and I'm stepping into the line of fire here as there is some serious doctor hate going on in this thread, but here goes...
First of all (in the US at least) most of these arguments are moot because patients by law have the right to their medical record. So, regardless of what your doctor thinks, by federal law you have the right to request and get access to your medical record.

In regards to the attitudes about IF patients should have this access I would be willing to bet that older physicians would be more against it than younger physicians. Doctors above a certain age tend to be more paternalistic towards patients than younger doctors.
My personal opinion is that any individual should be able to obtain access to their own medical notes.

However, most people are not familiar with the diagnostic process and jargon used in medical records. This could definitely lead to misinterpretation or confusion by a patient or the feeling that information was withheld when that is not the case at all. For instance I may write in a chart "left lung cavitary mass - malignancy vs TB vs fungal infection" indicating that I'm not yet sure what it is and more workup is needed. Do I tell the patient every possible differential diagnosis? No, because that tends to freak patients out, I say "I don't know what it is yet, we need to do some more tests."

If the patient read my note without understanding how to interpret it they may feel that information was withheld or the doctor has no clue what's going on.
I think that is more what is behind the results of this survey than doctors "covering their ass", because if a patient wants to sue they will sue, and every single piece of information about that patient will be subpoenaed and scrutinized by lawyers. You cover your ass by putting complete and accurate information into the medical record, and not trying to cover up mistakes if they happen.
Personally I would not care if any of my patients read their chart. I will even show it to them "See, last time I wrote that this was going on, is that still a problem?"

I refuse to pay more to wear some goofy glasses (over my prescription glasses) and then go home with a headache after 2 hours of eyestrain. I'll stick to old fashioned 2D. Thankfully most of the theaters in my area will carry the 2D versions of those released in 3D.

Windows 8 mail might make me pine for Pine also.

Man, people really get worked up over shitty cartoons from their childhood created to sell toys.
Did I watch some ninja turtles as a kid? Yes
Was it good? Not particularly
Do I care the least bit that Michael Bay is going to turn it into a CGI shitfest? Not really

Bay sucks. His movies suck. But I don't really care what he does with ninja turtles

Not sure how translating everything into shorthand would help much, I'm sure the Iranians have a few people around who can read it.

Steganography might be fun to try, though ;)

I got a Brother laser with ethernet/printserver in 2006 for around $100. I've printed tons of stuff. Still going strong on the original toner that it came with!

These should absolutely be in the public domain. It drives me crazy when companies claim rights to something that they had no part in creating or any real connection to. These should be archived at the Library of Congress and freely available to anyone to use and learn from.

Also, Feynman rules!

This is right on. So many patients if you don't prescribe antibiotics will get pissed and say the doc "didn't do anything." Nevermind the 15 minutes you spent with them taking history, examining them and explaining that they most likely had a virus that antibiotics will not help and that giving them antibiotics may even cause them problems in the long run. Nope, if they don't get a scrip you are worthless in their minds.
Regardless, I rarely prescribe antibiotics for sinutitis, bronchitis, etc. Because like the article says these are usually viral, and over prescribing antibiotics is a Bad Thing(TM). Sometimes it ends up being something that needs antibiotics and I'll treat it appropriately, but the vast majority resolve on their own.

I had a nice discussion with a lady last week that had completed her course of abx for pneumonia and she was feeling better, but she really wanted a antibiotic scrip bad "just in case." She was literally begging me to give her more antibiotics. I tried as best as I could to explain that she didn't need any more, and ultimately refused to give her a scrip. I don't think she was happy about it, but that is just the kind of stuff docs have to put up with regulary and unfortunately too many relent and just do what the patient wants.

This is the reason I use separate business and personal emails.

Why do American kids cry out against their station in life more loudly than their European or Ausie counterparts? American kids are the result
of the "ME" generation. It's all about them, it's all about being 'happy with who they are'. It's all about being 'special'. They lack the feeling of
community and common welfare.

The problem is that suffering (as well as.. joy?) are subjective. If I feel that I am suffering maximally, and so does an etheopian child, then to me and that child, we're suffering equally. You cannot gauge a person's problems from outside of them. Yes, you can say that in fact, the ethopian child is suffering more objectively, but to the white middle-class kid who gets beat up in school for being a geek, his hell is no less hot by his standards.

American teens are more out of touch with this than teens in other countries. The "American Dream" and "keeping up with the Joneses" tells
them that if they don't have the BEST, they don't have it good. If they don't have it good, they then must have it bad.

I fail to see how this has to do with being ousted by a community. In high school, I was "less than popular." I was a geek, I was into computers, and worst of all, I was fat. Wether or not I had money, or a nice house, or whatever, that made no difference to tormentors. (odd that "mentor" is present in that word) I don't think I "had it bad," materialistically I had it pretty good, and I was well aware of that. However, that has nothing to do with how you feel emotionally because someone else deems you "unworthy" of popularity, of acceptance.

To summarize: even if you have a billion dollars and all the best stuff in the world, if you're say, clinically depressed, then your life is still a living hell. If you're poor, but find happiness in something then I say you're better of than the person who "has it all."

If you're a jock, and you feel horribly worried that you won't be accepted so you beat up some kid who's different but it tears you up inside, then i'd say you're just as bad off as the kid you beat up, but you chose a more harmful way to deal with it.

High schools are one of the worst inventions ever created. They foster horrible class structures based on the wrong criteria. I don't know a solution, but I do recognize a problem here.