Former US President Jimmy Carter 'alive and well' as doctor debunks death hoax amid hospice care

Dr Michael Raines, the Carter family's doctor, confirmed to Georgia TV station WALB on Tuesday (July 23) that reports of Carter's death are unfounded. He said: "He is doing as well as can be expected being in hospice, but he has not passed away.”

The death hoax comes more than a year after Carter entered hospice care at his Georgia home. His doctor said the retired politician "has not had any significant health issues in the last three or four weeks. Or since the last time I saw him, and I am on the way there today to reevaluate him and make my usual visit with him."

The hoax began circulating after a photo of a fabricated letter claiming Carter had passed away on July 23 was posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The creator of the post later admitted the letter was fake, highlighting the public's susceptibility to sensationalist headlines. The letter contained several clues of its inauthenticity, including typos and an alleged quote attributed to Carter.

A few hours after the fake post went viral, the creator tweeted: “Big thank you yo (sic) everyone who fell for this. Particularly for proving me right: people only read headlines."

They had also included a hidden message in the image's alt text, noting: "President Carter is still alive and in hospice care. This was an experiment to see how gullible people are to sensationlist headlines."

The poster told Reuters: “The amount of misinformation which spread throughout the weekend surrounding the state of President Biden’s health was maddening. I wanted to prove that many people on X often spread sensationalist news and headlines without actually fact checking or double checking the source content.”

The person added: "I have no ill will towards President Carter and his family, and I admire him greatly for his service to our nation and efforts to promote democracy around the world."

The rumour came amid speculations about the wellbeing of President Joe Biden, which followed his July 21 announcement that he was dropping his 2024 re-election bid and is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate.