I'm surprised former President Carter is still living

Hospice care keeps terminal patients comfortable. It can go on indefinitely (months, I guess) or go quickly. If they want fluids, they get fluids, though there comes a point when they'll refuse all food or drink.

He's at home receiving hospice care, also hospice care does not mean not feeding the patient or restricting fluids.

It could be weeks or even months. It just means he's no longer taking life lengthening measures, only pallative ones.

Some people can be on hospice for many months or longer. It's usually reevaluated every few months. The focus is on comfort and pain/symptom management... not on medical treatments and procedures and hospitalizations.

Team Jimmy.

Jimmy team.

Let's pray for him to recover.

Jim-team-my.

Jimmmaaay!

My mother was on in-home hospice (actually, in her assisted living apartment) for 8 months. She decided to stop cancer treatment as the next treatment would have been pretty horrible. She had 7 very good months (and one of dying). I'm a very big fan of hospice.

[quote] Jim-team-my.

Jimmyteami.

Some years ago my friend/coworker's older sister had late-stage AIDS and eventually went into hospice care.

ONE YEAR LATER, girl was still alive, and Hospice put her out of the program. Apparently they don't deal well with patients who hang on or rally.

I laughed my ass off; I'd never heard of Hospice quitting somebody because they lived too long.

Yes, Miss R12, that family's suffering is quite hilarious.

Stop it, R13. My coworker and I laughed BECAUSE LIVING IS A GOOD THING. The sister laughed about it, as well.

Don't you understand the best possible outcome of a terminal illness is a miraculous recovery? My friend's sister lived more than a decade after Hospice released her. And she was able to see her children graduate from high school and become good adults. When she died there were no regrets, nothing left unsaid or undone.

So please do get bent, R13.

Get well soon 🎈 for Jimmy.

My grandma went into hospice and came out alive. She was in there for 6 months and didn't die, so they released her. She lived for at least a couple more years (maybe longer!), but I wouldn't say she "recovered." She was very aged, had dementia, and there were people in the generation below her (like my mom) who had predeceased her.

Also, frankly, she wasn't a very nice person and I think people (at least me) were ambivalent about her coming out of hospice alive.

My suspicion is that hospice patients (some of them) are getting nutrition in addition to hydration. I don't see how my grandma could've gone 6 months without nutrition and survived.

Jimmy Carter was one of the most talented presidents ever. He also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout his life. Despite that, he had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Washington. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with his struggles and he theirs.

He hit me in the head with a fondue pot, r17.

[quote]My suspicion is that hospice patients (some of them) are getting nutrition in addition to hydration. I don't see how my grandma could've gone 6 months without nutrition and survived.

Do you think you’re not allowed to eat anymore once you go on hospice?

@r12. Typically, it’s 6 months or less if the disease or illness runs it’s usual course.

Utilization Management will not approve Hospice Care unless the clinical prognosis shows the patient is near death,

Clearly, he’s immortal.

R19, there's tube feeding (liquid nutrition) and that's what I was thinking about. My Grandma was always a good eater and you bring up a good point. She may have been eating solid food (candy or bread, etc.). I imagine it would be hard for a hospice worker to say: no, you can't eat that.

I think his initials are a clue.

His granddaughter said the other day that "he still had some life in him" and that he had asked her to bring him a sandwich.

Can we have his stuff?

He's on a peanut butter drip.

The lust in his heart is what's keeping him alive.

R24 it was a sammich.

A very old friend died in 2021 in a hospice care facility. He lasted almost a month.

No shit!

Reagan & Bush pulled the dirty trick of all time

I don’t think they’re denied fluid or food at all unless the refuse to eat.

Saying that someone is on hospice does not mean that they're going to go any day now necessarily. A doctor put my dad on hospice status near the very end, but did tell us, "Honestly, this should've been done earlier."

Jiiimmmmaaay.! Love you!

[quote]@[R12]. Typically, it’s 6 months or less if the disease or illness runs it’s usual course.

[quote]Utilization Management will not approve Hospice Care unless the clinical prognosis shows the patient is near death

I know that, R20. The last two hospital stays for my Dad, the Hospitalist, the social worker, and the UM person came to Dad's room and told us they advised releasing him to a "skilled nursing facility." I asked the Dr. "Okay, please tell me EXACTLY what that means. Are you saying put him in a nursing home, on Hospice?"

Doctor said "Yes." I told her I'd discuss it with my siblings and get back to her." All three of my sibs agreed with me.

I told the Doctor "No." Doctor says "Well, he has cachexia, weighs 117 pounds and is declining." Which I'd already figured. "Plus, he's 93!" Yeah, knew that too.

We took Dad home, and with his PCP's help and our research (we sibs), under our specific protocol Dad slowly began to rally. He turned 95 in January, and still kicks ass with his rapier wit and incisive intellect.

Tl;dr version: Though I don't doubt Hospice usually gets it right, Hospice doesn't know everything. If you're a caregiver, you know your loved one better than anyone. Hospice is not always the end.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

The SS was probably mad that Jimmy interrupted their hookers and blow time

I am no President and I behave similarly. Most people? Not worth my time. Be polite. But nothing more. Y'all a bunch of backstabbing grifters and no thanks.

That bastion of journalistic credibility the Daily Fail....LOL

Hospice doesn't mean imminent death. Just dying and not getting any better

Well, if the average time in hospice is between 60-70 days, his death is now indeed imminent.

My mother stopped cancer treatment and lived another 9 months receiving hospice care. And her quality of life was excellent until the last month.

Hospice is about helping you not suffer. It is not about making you dead.

Dame Edna dies and yet Jimmy still walks the earth??!??

Very tacky death watch

Who would have thought that his grandson Aaron would go before he did?

I did R47. I called that in a thread a few years ago that Jimmy Carter would outlive Aaron Carter.

Carter obviously has good genetics. You don't get to 98.5 years old if you don't have something going for you.

Have a relative on hospice care for 2+ years now. It is not 24/7. Care providers visit weekly, not daily. Nurse vists, attendant comes to bathe him, chaplin visits, oxygen supplier on schedule, etc.

Art Buchwald lived so many months after being checked into hospice, they gave him the boot, where he ended up at his home in Martha's Vineyard, wrote a book about his hospice stay, had parties, gave interviews, etc. then more months later, finally popped his clogs at his son's house in D.C. (That is the tragic part.)

Could be the same thing is happening with Carter, minus Martha's Vineyard and the parties. His wife must be screaming GO TO THE LIGHT! every chance she can get, because JFC this must be hell on the nerves.

R17 chatbot answer?

We all deteriorate. Some faster than others. Sometimes if you deteriorate too slow you get dumped. End of story.

[quote]runs it’s usual course.

Oh, dear!

[quote] Carter obviously has good genetics.

His father & each of his three siblings died of pancreatic cancer in their 50s.

Jimmy be like:

May 5.

[quote]His wife must be screaming GO TO THE LIGHT! every chance she can get, because JFC this must be hell on the nerves.

I think Rosalynn will be sad to see Jimmy go -- they have been together for 77 years -- even longer than Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Philip. I think they are the longest-serving political couple in history.

R12 never happened.

People under hospice care should be getting all the illegal drugs that make you really happy: Molly, LSD, magic mushrooms, and of course opioids, but I take it most of them are probably under some kind of opiate or opioid for pain.

I understand that there's always the possibility of a bad trip with purely serotonergic drugs and the last thing you'd like to have in your last days is a bad trip but they can be aborted intravenously in a matter of seconds, so why not go for it? I have never taken mushrooms nor LSD, but if I was under hospice care what I'd really really want is the possibility to roll one last time while listening to my favorite music and watching videos of gorgeous guys doing whatever my fantasy commands they do. Or maybe even rent boys doing it around me. Hopefully paid for by the health insurance...

He’s with Joanne Woodward.

I think Carter worked hard his whole life and didn't like being waited on or be seen like he was being waited on. I remember that I read that he passed a SS agent who was standing in the hallway and said, Don't you have anything you could be doing? I think special treatment made him uncomfortable. He still has SS doesn't he? I wonder how they see him now.

Jimmy is probably living a normal life, as much as he can within limits. As it was explained so simply up earlier, he is receiving comfort care, palliative care. If he is able to eat and drink he will. When I first heard the announcement I thought some medical event had occurred and it would be a matter of a few weeks at most. But he could go on like this for months.

The few SS agents assigned to protect Carter are basically there to protect his home from intruders and screen authorized and unauthorized visitors. They are not there to stand outside his bedroom door when only family members and hospice/medical personnel are seeing or tending to him.

I wonder what kind of sandwich he had?

I can't believe he is still alive either. He was just elected president shortly after I was born and that was damn near 50 years ago.

I love the Southern Custom of referring to people as Mister or Miss. I live in metro Atlanta and he is "Mister Jimmy" down here.

And now Rosalyn has been diagnosed with dementia.

Jimmy Carter perhaps the last president to truly care about the working class. And yes I still love Obama.

Roslynn is 95 and Jimmy is 98. You don't hear anything negative about them (besides people's opinion of his Presidency), I think they are actually really good people.

You know I am too. They love living.

I'm not surprised at all.

People always think hospice care means death will be in a week or two, but I know from sad personal experience it often takes weeks, or even months.

R70 here in GA, as far as Jimmy Carter goes, this is a close community. He may have quirks, he may have people who don't like him much, but outsiders will never know. He is revered down here. And the reason is that he always remembered where he came from. He build the Carter Center, and the Presidential library here, he has been living in the same house for decades, and Georgia is home to him. He really is part of the community. Bill Clinton left Arkansas behind a long time ago. The Obama's visit Illinois but they live in D.C. Carter is a throwback to a more innocent, less pretentious time. Truman went back to Missouri and Ike went back to Kansas. It's like that. Jimmy and Rosalyn are pretty simple people when you get down to it. Even though he travels internationally, even though his politics is to the left of a lot of people in GA, he is a son of Georgia and they will defend his privacy and his comfort to the end. And after he's gone, no one here will ever speak ill of him personally. Even those who disagree with his politics. And all of this is anchored in religion. These are churchy people here in GA. Why, our Governor Brian Kemp that piece of shit racist NRA loving asshole, that pompous greedy bastard, goes to church at the Episcopal cathedral in Atlanta about twice a month. I go to the very progressive Episcopal church. He goes to a conservative, traditional version. Fuck him. My point being even the people who don't much care for Kemp would never speak ill of him in public or criticize him.

Hospice is about not lengthening life or caring too much about things like pain medication. At that point, take as much as you want, no "addiction" -- you'll be on it until death. Food restrictions? Not anymore.

He killed the Guinea worm. Death has nothing on him

Both of my ex-inlaws entered Hospice care near the end of their lives. Once hospice took over they were kept on enough morphine 24/7 to keep them asleep. No water, no food. Father-in-law lasted about a week. We cared for him at home and a nurse came by several times a week. A few years later I went through it again with my mother-in-law. Same scenario. Morphine, no food or water. She had a weak heart so she only lasted about 5 days.

No food or water? Sounds like euthanasia for poor people.

[quote]ONE YEAR LATER, girl was still alive, and Hospice put her out of the program. Apparently they don't deal well with patients who hang on or rally.

Lazarus Effect. I’m guessing this was around 1996? That’s when triple combination ARV therapy became available, and patients that were in hospitals dying started taking the meds and literally improved drastically to the point where they got out of bed and almost fully restored to health. All of the nurses and doctors working at that time were literally freaking out. And the patients were too, because almost all of them had left their jobs, sold their houses, sold their life insurance policies if they didn’t have anyone to benefit from it, and were expecting to die. And they got discharged from the hospital with no place to go, no money, no job.

It was before I started working in HIV so I wasn’t around to see it, but the older providers that did were just dumbfounded. Because they didn’t know what to do or how to react. Because people who are about to die don’t normally get up and go home.

A lot of those docs were the same doctors that were the first to treat people with HIV and there were a number of married couples that met through work, and were both infectious disease specialists, and they didn’t know extremely early on how transmissible HIV was. So at least one couple I know that were treating patients in San Francisco, were a young couple with young children and they didn’t know if they were exposing themselves to HIV (which didn’t even have a name yet, and hadn’t been identified as a virus) and potentially exposing their children at first, so they sat down and had a hard conversation about whether one of them would step back and take care of the kids and the other one would move into an apartment and continue to treat the patients at the hospital. But ultimately, they were both too determined to help, that they both went back to work. I’m talking about 1981 before the disease even had a name or we knew what virus caused it. They literally had no idea what they were dealing with so they didn’t know if they were at risk and putting their kids at risk. But they gambled and decided to both go back, and of course, looking back on it now knowing what we know, it seems like a silly thing to think about, but at the time, we really didn’t know anything. So they really did think that they might get infected themselves, and could potentially infect their children and kill them. I admire them both for going back to work but I can’t imagine what a tough decision that was.

Aside from that, OP’s comment that they must be giving him fluids. Yes, they do give hospice patients fluids. They want to make them as comfortable as possible, but what I’ve been told is the fluids don’t actually extend their lives and while they’re intended to make them more comfortable, they can actually make them nauseated, and feel worse so a patient may ask to be removed from them. But when people are dying, they do stop drinking and eating and that’s totally normal. It’s a sign that they’re going to be going soon, but they’re not hungry or thirsty. Their bodies have just shut down and don’t want food or water anymore. That’s pretty much how my mom went, no food for days before and very little for the month and weeks before that.

One of the other things I learned about hospice care that was a little spooky was that it’s not uncommon for people to be noncommunicative, not eat, or drink, and basically sleep all day. Then suddenly they will pop up start talking and ask for something to eat and eat a huge meal.

And then die that night.

I never saw it happen because I didn’t specialize in hospice care, but I got my little bit of training in it.

[quote]But ultimately, they were both too determined to help, that they both went back to work

Yeah, fuck them kids!. That's what I'm talking about!

A lot depends on the condition of the patient. I'm assuming President Carter is conscious. Able to sit up with assistance, and able to swallow so eating and drinking within very narrow limitations. When a person can no longer swallow and his or her body begins shutting down, that's when they start the morphine drip, keeping them comfortable. It happened with my father. The hospice nurses keep a close eye on vital signs and they measure fluid intake and usually a person has stopped eating solid foods by the time they're in the end stage of hospice. It's not that the nurses are denying food and drink, it's the patient's own body.

With hospice status usually fluids (and nutrition) only by mouth, not intravenous. When some stops taking fluids altogether by mouth they usually pass away within 3 days.

[quote] finally popped his clogs at his son's house in D.C.

It’s interesting to see a euphemism for “death” that’s more upsetting than the actual word.

They are probably slowly embalming him.

I think you all are mistaking the hospice care that happens at the very, very end when the hospital basically can't do anything more and death will happen in four or five days regardless, with the hospice care that can go on for many months, and provides support and medical care, too, just not, for example, chemo. My mother lived very well in hospice care in her assisted care unit for 8 months after she stopped chemo for recurrent breast cancer. Hospice was great in sending a caretaker every day to help her shower and prepare one meal for her, get her up and dressed, etc.

My brother-in-law has been in hospice care for almost two and a half years. It is not full-time attendants, but multiple visits by personnel including a nurse, bathing aide, and scheduled sitters at times to relieve a family member.

The waiting is killing me!

Youth transfusions

Team Jimmy. I want to hold onto the guy as long as possible. He is a classy guy and there are too few classy guys in politics.

He shall do the patriotic thing, and kick the bucket this holiday weekend. Or he will wait until July 4th and go out in a blaze of fireworks. You heard it here first, kids.

If he outlives Madonna he's a true GOAT.

Will Trump attend the funeral?

R60 knows how to live it up! That’s how I want my final weeks to go. Might as well pick up smoking too.

R92, since Jimmy called him out about being an illegitimate POTUS, and plainly said, right out in public, that Russia interfered and installed him in 2016, no, I don't think Trump will attend, nor will his kids.

Yet, R94, Carter did attend Trump's inauguration.

All former President-those that can make it -usually attend the swearing in of the President. George W attended Trump's and made some pretty good observations.

I shouldn't mention this here as there's a lot of tribal politics these days, but i'm going to anyway. He was quoted as saying: "The Clintons ... there when they need (something from) you" so not a surprise he was at the 2017 inaugural.

Obama, Clinton, Biden voter, but if it makes you feel better to flame me as a Republican, go ahead!

R97 Jimmy made no secret of the fact that he didn't get along with the Clinton's when they were in office. He even said on TV that he usually called his "dear friend" Al Gore if he ever needed anything or they talked about certain issues.Jimmy was very busy on the international scene in those days and he often clashed with Bill Clinton on foreign policy concerns. The mess in Haiti really pissed PResident Clinton off. Clinton was getting ready to send the military in, and he looked up and there was Jimmy Carter visiting Haiti. Carter stopped him. But time has passed and they seem to have made their peace. And honestly, Peaceful transition of power and national unity is very important to almost all our former PResidents and political leaders. Which is why, if they can, they will attend inaugurations.

To save face Last minute Clinton has Powell, Sam Nunn, and Carter go in. But it was a last minute gamble after Carter forced the issue.

R97, Clinton always blamed Carter for his 1980 gubernatorial re-election loss.

[quote]OP: When my late husband was under hospice care, he died two days later. They must be giving Jimmy fluids.

With all due respect, there's a difference between hospice and homicide.

Dying is a process. It is your body that decides when you stop eating and drinking fluids. Your throat closes up, muscles don't work, swallowing is impossible. I know of people who had lines inserted into their stomachs and fed nourishment with fluids. There are all kinds of extraordinary ways to keep a person alive technically speaking. Or you can choose to allow the process to run its course. As it has been stated several times in this thread, Jimmy Carter no longer wishes to go to the hospital every time he has a health crisis. He is choosing to remain at home and let things take their natural course. So he is getting palliative care. Keeping him comfortable. He is probably visited at least once a week by a nurse to check his vital signs, and he is probably given home care with nurse's aides bathing him, feeding him if he is able. He may be getting an IV until it is clear his kidneys are shutting down and his urine output is barely functioning. We really don't know what his status is except it seems he is still mentally sharp.

[quote]George W attended Trump's and made some pretty good observations.

"That was some weird shit!" Maybe not the most eloquent comment but entirely accurate.

They didn’t give your husband fluids? Where was he in hospice, Albania?

The Carters' eldest child turns 76 tomorrow and the Carters will celebrate their 77th wedding anniversary four days later.

Pres. Carter's 99th birthday is two months from today. Will he make it?

Mary Tyler Moore was in hospice care for two years.

Any inside scoop from anyone who knows the Carter family on his condition? This is a very Prince Philip kind of "oh he's old, done" but honestly I think it was more of a ploy so he no longer had to do public engagements. As R107 stated, there could be two more years of him easily.

As Rosalynn Carter turns 96 on Friday and Jimmy Carter nears 99, the couple continues to defy the odds.

Despite serious health problems — Jimmy Carter entered hospice six months ago and Rosalynn has dementia — they still spend most days sitting beside each other in the living room of the bungalow they built in 1961 in Plains, Ga. Family and friends who see them say that they enjoy some surprisingly good days and that this summer they even went for a ride with the Secret Service to watch Fourth of July fireworks in their hometown.

Jimmy Carter is often out of bed first, waiting in his recliner for his wife to emerge. “Rosalynn comes in the room and makes a beeline for this chair and bends over and kisses him,” said Jill Stuckey, a close friend. They spend many hours sitting side by side.

Jimmy Carter continues to follow the news, including criminal charges filed over former president Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to family and friends. Trump was indicted again Monday, this time in Carter’s home state of Georgia, on criminal charges related to his alleged efforts to undo his loss there.

Carter, a Democrat who spent years after the White House monitoring voting and promoting fair elections around the world, has publicly criticized Trump’s attempts to thwart the democratic process. Trump, a Republican, in turn has called Carter “a terrible president.”

Jimmy Carter has now lived longer than any other U.S. president. The couple’s 77-year marriage is in the presidential record books, too. Rosalynn is the second-oldest first lady in history. Bess Truman, who died at age 97, has held that record for more than four decades.

“Never count Jimmy Carter out,” said Gerald Rafshoon, who was Carter’s White House spokesman. “When he sets a goal, he gets there. ”

Rafshoon and others believe a key reason the Carters keep going is that neither wants to leave the other.

Carter has done things many thought impossible. When the young Georgia governor entered the 1976 presidential race, a headline in the Atlanta Constitution read, “Jimmy Who is Running for What?”

The former president has credited Rosalynn with helping him beat the odds. It was his unwillingness to leave Rosalynn home alone that led to his February decision to opt out of any more “medical intervention,” a close family member said. Jimmy Carter, who had survived melanoma that had spread to the brain as well as injuries from several falls, said he wouldn’t go to the hospital anymore.

When the locals in Plains, where most people know the Carters, first heard Jimmy Carter had entered hospice, many canceled trips so they would not miss his funeral.

But as weeks passed and word spread that Carter was listening to audiobooks and talking about the latest news, somber comments turned to quips about how Carter wants to set a record for how long he lives in hospice.

Still, it has not been easy for Carter. He took pride in how active he remained well into his 90s, including a daily swim, and he is physically declining.

“It can be sad,” said one close relative, who like others said they did not want to be quoted talking about the former president’s health.

Rosalynn is more mobile than her husband, who uses a wheelchair. She gets around with a walker. But the former first lady, who so often would finish her husband’s sentences about their White House days or globe-trotting travels, now struggles with recall. Three months ago, the Carter Center publicly disclosed her dementia, noting that she has been a longtime advocate for bringing greater awareness to mental health issues.

But Rosalynn has moments of clarity. Several people have heard the former first lady laugh at inside jokes and recount long-ago moments with exquisite detail in recent weeks.

She enjoys spending time with her family, said Jason Carter, the couple’s grandson. “She likes having people around and is joyful,” he said.

Although his health varies by day, Jimmy Carter remains mentally sharp. “Some days he’s talking about world events, and other days he just wants to talk about the Braves,” said Jason Carter, referring to the Atlanta Braves, the former president’s favorite baseball team.

Hugo Wentzel, the son of Amy Carter, the couple’s youngest child, last week said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that his grandfather is “really sick.” But he also said of the man he calls Papa, “he always wants to be doing something with his mind, so he’s trying to keep himself busy.”

Carter has joked about how often he is described as a better ex-president than president. With low public approval ratings after one term in the White House, Carter lost in a landslide to Ronald Reagan in 1980. But he lived long enough to see a shift in public assessment of his presidency.

Historians are increasingly praising his early warnings on climate change, his creation of the Department of Energy, and the Camp David Accords that led to a historic peace deal between Egypt and Israel. That and a lifetime of foreign policy work earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

“I think he is gratified that people are reconsidering his presidency,” said Meredith Evans, the director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta.

To mark Rosalynn’s 96th birthday, the museum’s admission price will drop Friday from the usual $12 for most adults to 96 cents. On Carter’s upcoming birthday on Oct. 1, admission will be 99 cents. The museum director said visitors often remark on the fact that the Carters have been married for 77 years but met as children. “They say, ‘Oh my goodness! That’s a long time, that’s a love story,” Evans said.

Carter, whose Secret Service name was Deacon because he is such a religious man, has said he is at peace with whatever happens next. He has seemed ready to let go at times this summer, relatives and friends said, but then he rallies.

So it was Rosalyn’s then-publicly unknown condition more than his own that informed his choice to enter hospice. He,?thus, may well live a lot longer.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein, also an MSNBC contributor, was on Chuck Todd’s podcast this week mentioning Carter grandson Jason Carter as a ‘26 potential candidate for governor (again). He didn’t mention Stacey Abrams name in this context.

R112, Is that the grandson who made the audio recording of Mitt Romney speaking at an event in 2012 and then leaked it on the Internet?

The grandson in the piece, Jason, recently turned 48. I think he's quite lucky to still have two grandparents at that age.

That wasn't him, R113. It was, apparently, James E. Carter IV.

Jason was the (losing) candidate for Governor some cycles back when the Democrats were in a much weaker position statewide than they are now.

And R114, Jack, Jason’s father, is 76 with both of his parents still living.

Yes, it's remarkable, R116. You do see this sometimes with the WWII veteran generation who married young, straight after the war, and started families.