My niece is a certified nursing assistant. She stole 5 vials of morphine from her workplace to self-medicate severe back pain. She could not afford time off work and could not afford to see the specialist. She admitted her guilt after drug inventory audit revealed the missing morphine. She was arrested, went trial and was sentenced to one year probation and a deferred sentence. Her specialty is dialysis technician for which she has won awards and bonuses.
She had spine surgery and is healing how.
How can she return to the medical field?
She is in a very tough position. Normally, she would be eligible to have her criminal record sealed or expunged. But that relief is typically limited to 1st time offenses that do not involve drugs, sex, violence, or abuse of minors/elderly people. Since, your niece stole drugs, she probably cannot get her record expunged, but she should check out the law in your state. You can find out by searching for it on the internet, or call a lawyer. The lawyer should tell you over the phone if he can take the case, or if your niece has no chance to get her records sealed.

Your niece abused her position of trust, her medical responsibility, and she stole and abused drugs all at once. It will always be tough for her to get a job in the medical field. Maybe she should look at another line of work. Or, she can start at a lower level position and build a good record of responsibility. She does have a good story to tell about her back injury that helps to put her in a good light.

She can learn how do a How to do a Free Background Check on herself to see what is being reported. Then she can correct any errors in the information, and she can be prepare to explain her history honestly, in the best light possible.