Beloved Former President Jimmy Carter Enters Hospice

Former President Jimmy Carter
Credit: The Carter Center

Hospice has been in the news more consistently lately since it was announced that former President Jimmy Carter elected to stop medical treatments and instead head home on hospice. On February 18th, The Carter Center announced that “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.” At 98, Carter is the oldest living U.S. president in history and has remained a beloved public figure for his continued commitment to social service and humanitarianism.  

The news of Carter entering hospice is not surprising, given the former President’s well-known health issues and priorities in life. In 2015, Carter was diagnosed with melanoma, a cancer that had metastasized to his brain. At an August 20, 2015 press conference, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Carter said, “I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease….  I’ve had a full life, I have thousands of friends … so I was surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife was.” In that same press conference, Carter shared that he would move forward with any treatments recommended by doctors, which ultimately proved successful. Carter was declared cancer free later that year.

Since then, Carter has slowly cut back on his public engagements, such as his decades-long commitment to teaching Sunday School at his longtime church. The spread of COVID-19 in 2020 also put an end to his tradition of regularly volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. Carter reflected on prioritizing quiet moments at home with his wife, sharing: “Now when we have a quiet moment, like a birthday or something, we like to stay at home, just by ourselves, and enjoy a quiet day in our own house without any visitors and with minimum phone calls and emails coming in.”

A younger Carter puts on wading boots to enjoy one of his favorite pastimes, fishing.

Carter’s decision to enter hospice is completely in line with this sentiment, as it is allowing him quiet time at home, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Across the U.S. but most particularly in Carter’s home state of Georgia, the news has prompted an outpouring of reflection and support from the public. PBS reported that dozens of well-wishers have trekked to The Carter Center in Atlanta to leave messages of support, while statues of Carter across the country have flowers placed at their base. Online tributes to Carter have also spread across the internet, and prompted poignant reflections on February 20th’s President’s Day holiday.