Jimmy Carter, oldest living former U.S. president, placed in hospice care

Former President Carter has been placed in hospice care, deciding to avoid additional “medical intervention,” the Carter Center announced Saturday.

The 98-year-old former president made his decision following a series of hospital visits, 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. He has the full support of his family and his medical team,” the Carter Center said in a statement.

“The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers,” the nonprofit said.

The statement did not say why Carter had been in and out of the hospital.

In 2015, Carter reported that he had begun undergoing treatment for melanoma, following a surgery to remove a mass from his liver. Months later, he reported that tests no longer showed any sign of the cancer.

In 2019, months after the death of former President George H.W. Bush, Carter became the longest living president in U.S. history. Two years later, after spending much of the COVID-19 pandemic living at their home in Plains, Ga, the Carters opted not to attend the inauguration of President Joe Biden. It was the first time they had missed such a ceremony since he was elected president, according to the Associated Press.

Carter was elected in 1976 and served a single four-year term. After losing reelection, he threw himself into philanthropic activities. In 1982, he and his wife founded the Carter Center, which pressed for peaceful solutions to world conflicts, promoted human rights and worked to eradicate disease in poor nations.

In 2002, the former president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his role in brokering a Middle East peace agreement between Egypt and Israel while in office.

Even after his 2015 fight with cancer, Carter continued to remain active with Habitat for Humanity, the home-building charity with which he and his wife were involved for decades.