Feb. 19, 2023 -- Former President Jimmy Carter will forgo further hospital care and will enter hospice care at his home in Georgia, the Carter Center in Atlanta announced.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the statement said. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.”
The Carter Center did not describe what prompted the decision, but the former president, 98, has gone through a series of medical problems in the past decade.
In 2015, Carter was treated for liver cancer and melanoma that had spread to his brain, The Carter Center said. Carter thought he only had weeks to live but doctors at the Winship Cancer Center developed a treatment plan that included stereotactic radiation to control metastatic tumors in his brain and a new immunotherapy drug that worked systemically.
In 2019, Carter fell several times, with one fall causing a cut that required 14 stitches and the other resulting in a broken pelvis, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He had surgery in late 2019 to relieve pressure on his brain from a subdural hematoma related to one of the falls, The Carter Center said.
Carter, 98, bounced back from his medical problems and worked on Habitat for Humanity projects. But he has been appearing in public less in recent years and didn’t attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021.
Carter served from 1977 to 1981 and is the oldest former U.S. president. After his presidency, Carter devoted himself to promoting human rights, working with Habitat for Humanity and combating Guinea worm disease in Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Grandson Jason Carter, who is chairman of the Carter Center board of trustees, tweeted on Saturday that “I saw both of my grandparents yesterday. They are at peace and—as always—their home is full of love. Thank you all for your kind words.”