Jimmy Carter, the oldest living former president of the United States, will live the rest of his days at home instead of a hospital. The Carter Center, the 98-year-old’s nonprofit organization, announced on Twitter on Saturday that Carter has opted to enter hospice care in his Georgia home in lieu of further medical treatment.
“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the center’s Twitter message reads. “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 statement didn’t specify what led to Carter’s hospital stays, but The New York Times notes that the 39th U.S. president has recently weathered a bout with cancer and repeated falls.
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Carter won the 1976 presidential election, defeating incumbent President Gerald Ford, at a time when his biggest claim to fame was his four-year tenure as Georgia governor. The Democrat politician served one term as U.S. president — navigating stagflation, the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and the Iran hostage crisis — before losing a re-election bid to Republican challenger Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Since then, Carter has focused his attention on human rights, peace efforts, and public health. He earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” And Carter has been an ardent supporter of Habitat for Humanity, even pitching in on a home-building project for the organization in 2019 just one day after taking a fall at home.
His grandson Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center’s board of trustees, gave Twitter followers an update about both Jimmy and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy’s wife, who’s 95 years old.
“Saw both of my grandparents yesterday,” Jason tweeted on Saturday. “They are at peace and — as always — their home is full of love.”
