Wellington, Feb 14 NZPA - The Auckland hospital that sent a woman home with a broken back has defended its action.

Julia Zuccani, 59, was taken by ambulance to North Shore Hospital's emergency department after falling in her Birkenhead home at 4am on January 10, The Herald on Sunday reported today.

She was discharged two hours later with painkillers and was told to see her doctor if problems persisted.

No X-rays were taken and her discharge sheet states: "nil concerning feature for fracture/disk injury".

Nine days later, she had X-rays done through her family doctor that showed she had a compression fracture in her spine.

Ms Zuccani said hospital staff were friendly but she felt they were trying to rush her through.

"I was in agony and kept vomiting from the pain killers. They left me for ages but I did not like having to keep ringing the bell.

"The doctor pressed spots on my back but said nothing was broken and sent me home."

The hospital investigated the case and said that the emergency department doctor who treated Ms Zuccani followed the correct procedure.

The hospital's emergency department clinical director Bhavani Peddinti said similar cases happened regularly but it did not affect patients due to the type of injury.

"At the time clinically it was deemed that an X-ray wasn't warranted, which happens to us all the time.

It's not unusual." He said even if it was diagnosed at the time, the outcome would be no different.

"Even if the fracture had been picked up, we would have still discharged her. It is a stable injury."

If the doctor had chosen not to X-ray after finding a lump or swelling or other symptoms,

Mr Peddinti said he would be worried but there were no signs of serious injury.

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