Mrs Millns was in the Hamilton High Court on Wednesday when Justice Keane sentenced her brother Ian Crutchley (49) to six months' community detention and 150 hours' community work for attempting to murder his mother Elsie Crutchley on February 5 in a Taumaranui rest-home.
Mrs Crutchley was dying from stomach cancer and was in distress.
Despite requests from her family, medication was not increased to relieve her anxiety and distress.
In desperation, Mr Crutchley attempted to do just that, resulting in a massive release from the medication pump.
A post mortem found that Mrs Crutchley did not die from the drugs.
"It's probably the best outcome there could have been, to be honest.
It was very scary Wednesday morning," Mrs Millns said yesterday after she returned to Oamaru.
Police had been seeking a jail sentence of 12 to 18 months, based on comparisons with similar cases.
But Mrs Millns said the difference was the circumstances surrounding the case.
"It wasn't premeditated, it wasn't planned and a series of incidents put Ian in that position," she said.
Mrs Millns acknowledged the sentence was unprecedented, but also that it had recognised the mitigating factors in the case.
It had also acknowledged an unusual request from the jury that the justice show Mr Crutchley leniency.
While Mrs Millns and her sister Lynette Paul had hoped their brother would receive a community-based sentence, they had also feared he would go to jail.
Mrs Millns said the case was "very political", particularly in view of the debate over euthanasia.
"This was not about euthanasia. I have my own personal views and I believe in it.
"In contrast, Ian does not," she said.
The issue was the nature of the palliative care her mother received at the rest-home as she was dying.
"Or, rather the lack of it," Mrs Millns said.
"That was what made him act that way. It wasn't premeditated or planned in any way."
Euthanasia groups had contacted her family before the case went to court.
"We didn't want a bar of it. It wasn't about that, it was about Mum's care and what it led to."
One good thing to come from the case was the suggestion of changes to palliative care in Taumaranui, including a proposal to set up a palliative care unit there.
Mr Crutchley will be able to continue to operate his business, but will have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and observe a curfew.
The family is looking into the way police handled the complaint, including originally charging him with murder before a post mortem report was received, and advising Mrs Millns that she and her sister would be witnesses against her brother.
"That was really distressing. We were so worried we could say something that could send him to jail.
"We only found out from Ian's lawyer, not the police, three weeks before Ian was to go on trail that we would not be witnesses," she said.
