Patient empowerment—who empowers whom?

What is patient empowerment? Over 250 participants discussed this question at the first European Conference on Patient Empowerment, recently held in Copenhagen, Denmark, by the European Network on Patient Empowerment (ENOPE 2012). The conference was convened under the auspices of the Danish Presidency of the European Union (EU), and organised by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Denmark's Ministry of Health, the Danish Committee for Health Education, the Caerum Foundation of Switzerland, and the English Expert Patient's group.