Lizzie Presser

Reporter

Photo of Lizzie Presser

Lizzie Presser covers health, inequality and how policy is experienced at ProPublica. She was previously a contributing writer for The California Sunday Magazine, and her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, This American Life and others. Her story “The Dispossessed,” published in partnership with The New Yorker, won the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting and the John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism in 2020. She is a two-time finalist for the Livingston Award and the National Magazine Award.

Black Landowners Will Benefit From New Funding to Prevent Land Loss

A year after a ProPublica story highlighted problems for landowners who passed down “heirs’ property” without wills, a reformer won a MacArthur “genius” award and a nonprofit organization has received a flood of donations.

Black Diabetics Lose Limbs at Triple the Rate of Others. Here’s How Health Care Leaders Are Starting to Act.

The American Diabetes Association is creating an initiative to fight unnecessary amputations, which a ProPublica investigation found disproportionately affect Black diabetics. Congress, doctors and the public are finally taking notice, too.

The Black American Amputation Epidemic

Black patients were losing limbs at triple the rate of others. The doctor put up billboards in the Mississippi Delta. Amputation Prevention Institute, they read. He could save their limbs, if it wasn’t too late.

Rationing Protective Gear Means Checking on Coronavirus Patients Less Often. This Can Be Deadly.

Low on essential supplies and fearing they’ll get sick, doctors and nurses told ProPublica in-person care for coronavirus patients has been scaled back. In some cases, it’s causing serious harm.

Un empleado de servicios médicos describe las terribles consecuencias de la insuficiencia pulmonar causada por el COVID-19, incluso en sus pacientes jóvenes

“Caí por primera vez en la cuenta de lo diferente que es cuando vi deteriorarse a mi primer paciente de coronavirus. Pensé ‘Maldita sea, esto no es una gripa’, mientras veía a este hombre relativamente joven que se esforzaba por respirar y expulsaba secreciones espumosas de color rosa por su tubo”.

A Medical Worker Describes Terrifying Lung Failure From COVID-19 — Even in His Young Patients

“It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, Holy shit, this is not the flu. Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube.”

Has the Price of Diabetes Care Affected You? Tell Us About It.

ProPublica is investigating the potentially dangerous impacts of costly Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes care. Help us report by filling out our form.

U.S. Senate Greenlights Funding to Help Prevent Families From Losing Their Land

A ProPublica-New Yorker story about black land loss was cited by the legislation’s sponsor before the near-unanimous vote.

When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

Welcome to Coffeyville, Kansas, where the judge has no law degree, debt collectors get a cut of the bail and Americans are watching their lives — and liberty — disappear in the pursuit of medical debt collection.

Elizabeth Warren Announces Plans to Help Heirs’ Property Owners

The Democratic presidential candidate cited a ProPublica investigation into black land loss in her proposal.

Federal Government Wants to Hear From Heirs’ Property Owners

Ten days after a story about black families losing their land, the USDA scheduled listening sessions to hear from people who have had trouble qualifying for federal programs because their land was passed down without a will.

Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.

Why are so many black families losing their land?

How to Close Heirs’ Property Loopholes

What to consider to avoid losing land that has been passed down through generations without a will and is shared among heirs.

Follow ProPublica

Latest Stories from ProPublica

Billy Long, Trump’s Nominee to Lead the IRS, Touts a Credential That Tax Experts Say Is Dubious

“I Thought He Was Helping Me”: Patient Endured 9 Years of Chemotherapy for Cancer He Never Had

The CDC Hasn’t Asked States to Track Deaths Linked to Abortion Bans

Report: Hospitals Rarely Advise Doctors on How to Treat Patients Under Abortion Bans