Jimmy Carter hospitalized in Atlanta for procedure to relieve pressure on brain

ATLANTA -- Former president Jimmy Carter was hospitalized Monday night in Atlanta, his spokesperson said.

The official Carter Foundation said in a tweet that the 95-year-old is at Emory University Hospital for a procedure "to relieve pressure on his brain, caused by bleeding due to his recent falls."

The procedure is scheduled for Tuesday morning, the statement said. Carter's wife Rosalynn is with him at the hospital and he is resting comfortably, his spokesperson said.

Carter is the oldest surviving president.

He was hospitalized twice in October for falls, including one at his Georgia home in which he sustained a minor fracture to his pelvis. In May he underwent surgery after falling and breaking his hip while leaving for a hunting trip. He also received a dire cancer diagnosis in 2015 but survived and has since said he is cancer-free.

Nearly four decades after he left office and despite a body that's failing after 95 years, the nation's oldest-ever ex-president still teaches Sunday school roughly twice a month at Maranatha Baptist Church in his tiny hometown of Plains in southwest Georgia. His message is unfailingly about Jesus, not himself.

Rev. Tony Lowden, Carter's pastor, said the ex-president was hospitalized Monday on what he called "a rough day."

"We just need the whole country to be in prayer for him," Lowden said in a telephone interview.

The church has announced that Carter will not be teaching his Sunday school class this week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.