However, Mrs Millns yesterday told the Otago Daily Times her brother, Ian Crutchley, was resigned to going to prison for trying to alleviate their mother's pain on the day she died by increasing the dosage of her drugs.
She believed the events would not have happened if her mother had been receiving proper care.
She urged other people to learn from her family's experience with her mother, Elsie Crutchley (77).
People needed to ensure family members were cared for correctly, were receiving the right medication and that questions were asked about their treatment.
Ian Crutchley, who turned 50 on Saturday, was last Wednesday found guilty in the High Court at Hamilton of the attempted murder of his mother on February 5 last year.
The jury had told Justice Patrick King they could not reach a verdict, but were sent back to reconsider.
In an unusual move, when delivering the verdict, they told Justice King no family should have to endure the circumstances the Crutchleys had and asked he treat Crutchley with leniency at sentencing on July 9.
Mrs Millns yesterday supported that plea.
"I do not want him to go to jail. It would devastate us.
"Ian has accepted he could go to jail - he stands by what he did and is prepared," she said.
"I know he did not intend to kill Mum, but to ease her pain, even if that [death] was the consequence, "I personally believe if she had had the proper palliative care we would not have had to go through this."
At the trial, the court was told a postmortem did not find the drugs caused her death.
Their mother was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer at the end of 2006.
Mrs Millns, her sister, Lynette Paul (Hamilton), and Mr Crutchley (Taumaranui) all offered to care for her in their homes.
However, their mother did not want that because she had seen the effect on the family when her husband, Reginald, had died of a terminal illness three years before.
A decision was later made to place her in palliative care in a rest-home.
At the end of January last year, the family was called to their mother's bedside after she "took a turn for the worst", Mrs Millns said.
All three spent many hours every day with Mrs Crutchley, sometimes from 7am until 2am.
She was in considerable pain and suffering from anxiety.
Unable to swallow her medication, Mrs Crutchley was put on a medication pump, with drugs for pain and anxiety.
"On the day Mum died, when we arrived she was blue, groaning, breathing erratically and obviously in horrendous pain," Mrs Millns said.
When staff attempted to suction her mouth, Mrs Crutchley became "really distressed", thrashing around and crying for help.
The family asked for medication to be increased, but that did not happen.
Mrs Millns and her sister went for a cup of coffee.
About half an hour after they returned, Mrs Millns was told by her brother he had administered the rest of the drugs in the pump.
"I could not really believe it. I felt very scared for him.
''I knew there would be repercussions," she said.
She put it out of her mind, caring for and comforting her mother.
When rest-home staff discovered the drug pump was empty, they notified police.
After Mrs Crutchley died, the family were taken to the matron's office and police arrived about half an hour later.
Their mother's room was cordoned off and they could not collect her belongings until the following day.
Mrs Millns was interviewed by police for about five hours after her mother's death.
Mr Crutchley was originally charged with murder and attempted murder, but after a depositions hearing last September, the murder charge was rejected by two Justices of the Peace.
Mr Crutchley's trial started last Monday.
He denied wanting to kill his mother and told the court: "I didn't want to end her life.
''I love my mother, I didn't mean to kill her."
The family had received a lot of support, particularly from Taumaranui people.
A petition had been started in the town supporting Mr Crutchley and would be presented at his sentencing, and a town meeting was planned.
Mrs Millns plans to return to Hamilton to speak at her brother's sentencing.
