Medical records: should patients have access?

Does respect for individual rights require that patients be given a legal right of access to their medical records? Is this anything that the average patient cares about, or is this an instance of self-appointed activists interfering with delicate professional relationships? Even if there is a genuine value in creating more open communication between doctor and patient, is the demand for access to written records likely to be of much help to the average patient? Finally, would this right of access lead health professionals to double-entry medical record-keeping, thereby compromising the basic values of medical records?