Administration

Carter Center CEO says ‘no significant change’ in Jimmy Carter’s condition: AJC

Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander said in a Wednesday interview that there has been “no significant change” in former President Carter’s condition.

“It’s 15 months of hospice at this point, and he is fully retired,” Alexander said on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Politically Georgia” podcast Wednesday.

“There really hasn’t been a significant change. I mean, he will always be one bad cold away from the end,” Alexander said. “He is in hospice care, and there are palliative measures if he’s in pain, but nothing else.”

Carter announced in February 2023 that he was entering hospice care, forgoing further medical intervention so he could spend time with family. At 99 years old, Carter is the oldest living U.S. president.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died in November at the age of 96.

Alexander’s comments follow earlier remarks from Jason Carter — the former president’s oldest grandson and the chair of the Carter Center board of trustees — at an annual mental health forum at the center Tuesday.

“My grandfather is doing OK. He has been in hospice, as you know, for almost a year and a half now. And he really is, I think, coming to the end,” Jason Carter said at the event.

Jason Carter recounted the last time he saw his grandfather, a few weeks ago, when they watched an Atlanta Braves baseball game together and discussed the former president’s well-being.

“I said, ‘Papa, you know, I can’t — people ask me how you’re doing, and I say I don’t know.’ And he said, ‘Well, I don’t know myself,‘” Jason Carter said.

“So he is still there,” Jason Carter continued.