Jimmy Carter, Oldest Living Ex-US President, To Spend 'His Remaining Time' In Home Hospice Care

Ex-US President Carter has suffered several health setbacks in recent years, including a battle with brain cancer. He will spend his remaining time under receive hospice care, Carter Center informed.

New Delhi: Former US President Jimmy Carter will spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care after a series of short hospital stays, Carter Center announced Saturday. 

"After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention," Carter Center said in a statement. "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 not-for-profit, nongovernmental organisation informed.

Carter has suffered several health setbacks in recent years, including a battle with brain cancer.

A Democrat, Carter served as US president from 1977 to 1981, during which he oversaw the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the United States and China. He is currently the oldest living former US president.

The nation's 39th president has kept a low public profile in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has continued to speak out about risks to democracy around the world, a longtime cause of his.

Born in 1924 to strict Baptist parents in the small town of Plains, Ga, Carter was enrolled in the US Naval Academy, and as a young naval officer, he worked on the nascent nuclear submarine program. He later became a successful peanut farmer and in 1962 he was elected to the Georgia State Senate.

He was elected governor in 1970, Wall Street Journal. Back in 2015, doctors found cancer in Carter's brain and liver, and he said at the time that he would cut back on his work schedule to undergo treatment that included immunotherapy and radiation. And fortunately, he beat brain cancer but faced a series of health scares in 2019 and consequentially underwent surgery to remove pressure on his brain.

His health woes forced him to give up his decadeslong tradition of teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. A peanut farmer and US Navy lieutenant before going into politics, Carter, a Democrat, eventually served one term as governor of Georgia and president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.