KEY POINTS:
Support for Ian Crutchley who was found guilty of attempting to murder his terminally ill mother has led to a community meeting to be called.
Crutchley, 49, was charged over the death of Elsie Patricia Crutchley, 77, at Taumarunui's Avonlea Hospital and Home on February 5 last year.
He was found guilty by a jury in the High Court at Hamilton last week.
The Thursday meeting in his home town of Taumarunui was organised by Taumarunui community health forum chairwoman Rhonda Wood who said the meeting was a response to deep concern about the Crutchley case.
Mrs Crutchley was in the final stages of terminal stomach cancer, and died within hours of her son giving her an overdose of her drugs, which included a cocktail of morphine, painkillers and anti-anxiety medication. Crutchley told the court he never wanted to kill his mother.
Mrs Wood said the case had exposed inadequacies in the rural health service, the Waikato Times reported.
"Ian Crutchley was placed in an intolerable situation because he was let down by the health system. It's now time rural New Zealand got answers. We don't have the resources to care for terminally ill people in our communities."
Crutchley is to be sentenced on July 9.
- NZPA
