The oldest living former US president ever, Jimmy Carter aged 98, has chosen to spend his final days at home in Plains, Georgia, in hospice care after having decided to avoid ‘additional medical intervention’, the Carter Center announced Saturday February 18.
The 98-year-old former president made his decision after recent hospitalizations, according to the Carter Center, a nonprofit group set up to carry out charitable activities supported by the former president and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
‘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 Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.
‘He has the full support of his family and his medical team,’ the center said in a statement.
Carter has overcome serious health problems, including in 2015 when he was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain.
After treatment, doctors said he defied the odds, and Carter announced later that year that he was cancer-free.
The announcement from the Atlanta-based Carter Center did not specify whether his cancer had returned or whether another health condition prompted his decision that he was ready for hospice rather than continuing medical care.
In 2019, months after the death of former President George H.W. Bush at age 94, Carter became the longest-living former president in U.S. history.
He led the nation from 1977 to 1981.
