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A nurse who stole opioid painkillers and other drugs from a Toronto hospital for seven years, then risked harming patients by doctoring their records in the cover-up, has been ordered rehired by the facility.

The just-released arbitration ruling is one of the most dramatic in a string of cases nationwide involving health-care workers caught pilfering narcotics — but with starkly different outcomes for the employees.

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While many have returned to work after rehabilitation with their records relatively unblemished, others have been disciplined, fired or even prosecuted criminally.

In the Toronto case decided last week, arbitrator Norm Jesin concluded the serial thefts were motivated by addiction, a disability he said gives the nurse human-rights protection.

In overturning the unnamed woman’s dismissal, Jesin also cited the fact she eventually sought professional help, was in remission and will return to work under a set of conditions designed to protect Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.