Steven James McLaren, 55, will serve a non-parole period of five years after he told Newcastle District Court that he felt trapped and was "at the end of my tether" caring for Barry Harrison, 61, who suffered from motor neurone disease.

Mr Harrison had only some movement of his head and eyes with McLaren describing him as "more or less a quadriplegic".

McLaren moved in to Mr Harrison's Eleebana home in March 2010, Judge Berman said.

McLaren went into Mr Harrison's bedroom about 2am on October 5, 2010, and adjusted Mr Harrison's bed so Mr Harrison was lying horizontally, which would lead to him choking and dying.

McLaren, who previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder, said he expected Mr Harrison to die quickly and it would look like a natural death.

Instead, Mr Harrison woke, screamed for help and managed to survive for about six hours before a nurse found him on the floor.

McLaren left and had breakfast, made an appointment to see his optometrist and had a beer at a hotel before returning to the house at 2.30pm, Judge Berman said.

Mr Harrison died from an unrelated illness four months later.

McLaren told the court that he was friends with Mr Harrison who was an "interesting fellow" and a "special man" who had travelled, surfed, sailed on yachts and been a businessman before he was crippled by motor neurone disease.

"My thinking was that I didn't want to abandon Barry . . . I didn't want to fail in the job . . . I felt that if Barry died I won't have failed in my job," McLaren said.

Mr Harrison's family had offered to help McLaren and one of McLaren's family members had encouraged him to get help.

McLaren had battled a number of mental illnesses through most of his adult years, but had stopped taking two of his four medications, the court heard.

He said he didn't like the way his medications affected his personality and one of the drugs cost him $68 a month because it was not on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Judge Berman said: "This was far removed from any idea of a mercy killing. Mr Harrison had no motivation to die."

With time already served, McLaren will be eligible for parole in April 2016.