Former US President Jimmy Carter has decided to receive hospice care rather than additional medical intervention and “spend the remainder of his time at home with his family,” the Carter Center said Saturday.
Carter, 98, who lived longer after leaving the White House than any former president in US history, was a Democrat who served from January 1977 to January 1981.
“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 their many fans,” the center said in a statement.
In recent years, the Georgia native had been suffering from a number of health problems including melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain, though he responded well to the treatment he received.
The former peanut farmer’s four years at the helm of the country were marred by an economic crisis at home and Iran’s hostage crisis, which ended just after he left office. But Carter also played a central role in brokering the Camp David Accords, which led to the historic Egypt–Israel peace treaty.