To mark the 20^th anniversary of the publication of To Err Is Human, Modern Healthcare, a national health care business and policy magazine, recently published, "20 Years Later: To Err Is a Leadership Failure," a series of articles and editorials in discussion with CEOs, patients, patient safety leaders and others to find answers to the question: Why do patient safety issues remain a serious challenge in America’s health care system?

• Read: Hospitals fall short of patient safety goals 20 years after 'To Err is Human'

The Betsy Lehman Center’s Director of Peer Support Programs, Linda Kenney, talks with Modern Healthcare about experiencing two life-threatening medical errors, 20 years apart. Although the response from the hospital after her most recent experience was an improvement over the earlier one, she says there’s still work to be done. “When you survive something like this, you want to make sure no one else goes through it again.”

• Read: Patient advocate recalls two medical errors that nearly killed her

President Emeritus and Senior Fellow of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Massachusetts resident, Don Berwick, M.D., argues that the systematic pursuit of improved patient safety has stalled, in an opinion piece.

• Read: Despite progress, we’re still waiting for a truly safer healthcare system

Still, there are pockets of success and reasons to be optimistic. Modern Healthcare highlights work being done by groups like the Children’s Hospitals Solutions for Patient Safety Network, the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety, and the Massachusetts Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium.

• Read: Children's hospitals collaborate rather than compete on patient safety

The full set of articles, expert commentaries and editorials in the Modern Healthcare series can be found here.