The meaning and origin of the expression: Granny dumping

Granny dumping

What's the origin of the phrase 'Granny dumping'?

Coined in the US in the early 1990s when it was believed that elderly people were being deserted by their carers and left in hospitals etc. where the authorities would find them and take responsibility for them. The first record I can find of this phenomenon in print is from the Chicago Daily Herald, October 1991, in an opinion piece by Bart Lindeman:

"Granny-dumping" Hospital emergency room doctors report they're beginning to see a pattern where old, frail and sick women and men are being left or abandoned. Sometimes there will be a note: "We can't take care of her anymore".