PEOPLE: Jimmy Carter’s Hospice Care is Not Unusually Long, Expert Says: ‘Average is 60-70 days”
April 21, 2023
Spending months at a time in hospice is not at all uncommon, Jonathan Fleece, CEO, Empath Health, tells PEOPLE
By Virginia Chamlee
News that former President Jimmy Carter would begin receiving hospice care came in late February, with The Carter Center announcing in a statement that Carter had “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
Now more than two months later, experts clarify that spending months at a time in hospice — while not always the case — is not at all uncommon.
“A misconception is that the average length of stay in hospice is for the last several days of someone’s life,” explains Jonathan Fleece, president and CEO of Empath Health, one of the largest not-for-profit hospice organizations in the country. “The average length of stay nationally is in the 60- to 70-day range.”
