Former U.S. President Carter hospitalized in Georgia with urinary tract infection

[December 03, 2019]  By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, released from one hospital in Georgia the day before Thanksgiving, was admitted to another over the holiday weekend for treatment of a urinary tract infection, the Carter Center said in a statement on Monday.

"He is feeling better and looks forward to returning home soon," the statement said of Carter, who at age 95 has lived longer after leaving the White House than any former president in U.S. history.

The former peanut farmer and Georgia governor was admitted to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia, over the weekend, the Carter Center said, adding that its next statement would be issued "when he is released for further rest and recovery."

Carter, who resides in Plains, Georgia, was sent home Wednesday from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta following the latest in a string of recent health scares.

He was admitted there on Nov. 11, accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, 92, for a procedure to relieve pressure from bleeding on the outer lining of his brain - a subdural hematoma - caused by recent falls. Doctors pronounced the surgery a success.

In October, Carter fell twice. The first fall required he receive stitches to his face and the second resulted in a brief hospitalization for a minor pelvis fracture.

After the first fall, he resumed work on a homebuilding project for the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity.

 Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter attends the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, U.S. August 25, 2008. REUTERS/Eric Thayer/File Photo

In May, the former Democratic president broke his hip, also at home, requiring him to undergo surgery.

Carter defeated Republican President Gerald Ford in 1976 to become the nation's 39th president, serving a single four-year term in the White House.

His presidency was overshadowed by an economic recession, an energy crisis and the taking of U.S. hostages by Iran, but he also played a leading role in brokering the Camp David accords leading to an Egypt-Israeli peace treaty.

He lost his 1980 re-election bid to Republican Ronald Reagan. After leaving office in 1981, Carter went on to become an international fixture and noted humanitarian. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts toward finding peaceful solutions to global conflicts, advancing democracy and human rights and promoting economic and social development.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Jill Serjeant in Culver City, California, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Cynthia Osterman)

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