Jimmy Carter back in the hospital but already feeling better

Former President Jimmy Carter returned to the hospital over the weekend for a urinary tract infection, less than a week after he had left an Atlanta hospital following a two-week stay.

“Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was admitted to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., this past weekend for treatment for a urinary tract infection,” a statement from the Carter Center read. “He is feeling better and looks forward to returning home soon. We will issue a statement when he is released for further rest and recovery at home.”

Carter, 95, had been admitted to the hospital on November 11 for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain. The pressure was caused by bleeding from his recent falls, the center said at the time. He was hospitalized twice in October, suffering a black eye and receiving 14 stitches above his brow after his first fall, when he hit his forehead “on a sharp edge.” He then received treatment for a minor pelvic fracture after his second fall.

He previously survived brain and liver cancer.

Carter celebrated his 95th birthday on October 1, and is the oldest living former US president in history — a title once held by George H.W. Bush, who died in late 2018 at age 94.

Despite his age and health complications, Carter hasn’t eased off his volunteerism.

Along with wife Rosalynn Carter, he has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity for 35 years, building homes all over the United States and around the world. They have worked alongside 103,000 volunteers in 14 countries, including India, South Korea and the Philippines.

Last month, Carter said he had found that he was “was absolutely and completely at ease with death” after doctors told him in 2015 that his cancer had spread to his brain.

“I assumed, naturally, that I was going to die very quickly,” Carter said during a church service in his hometown of Plains, Ga. “I obviously prayed about it. I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death.”

“It didn’t really matter to me whether I died or lived. Except I was going to miss my family, and miss the work at the Carter Center and miss teaching your Sunday school service sometimes and so forth. All those delightful things,” the 39th president added.

This story has been updated.