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A Tennessee nurse has had her license revoked after allegedly stealing her assisted live in patient’s pain pills – and in turn getting high while at work.

M. Hoke, 41, of Ashland City, Tennessee, worked as Assistant Executive Director at the local Vantage Point Assisted Living facility for the elderly until being forced to resign on September 19, according to Tennessee Board of Nursing records recently obtained by Scoop: Nashville.

Hoke’s resignation came the same day she was seen slurring her words, acting strangely and ‘displaying hyperactive behavior’, while on the job.

Define hyperactive?

After investigating, staffers found Hoke had withdrawn prescribed hydrocodone pills at 8am, 11am, and 3pm that day, but never gave them to the intended elderly female patient who had complained about not receiving her pain medication since the morning of the same morning.

But there’s more…

Five days prior, another elderly patient under Hoke’s care had reported being in a ‘great deal of pain’ to Vantage Point staffers after Hoke failed to provide scheduled pain meds, records showed.

A September 19 blood test revealed Hoke had oxycodone and opiates in her system the day she was forced to quit.

She admitted taking a patient’s oxycodone pill that day, but said the patient had refused to take the pill. She also said she took a hydrocodone pill, but claimed one of her relatives gave it to her.

In January, Hoke sought professional help for drug counseling from the Tennessee Professional Assistance Program (TnPAP), but failed to complete the evaluation process, according to the board of nursing report.

‘The Stipulations of Fact are sufficient to establish that [Hoke] … is guilty of unprofessional conduct,’ Assistant General Counsel Kaitlin R. Parham wrote in her report. ‘[Hoke’s] license to practice as a nurse in Tennessee … is hereby SUSPENDED and [her] multistate privilege to practice in any other party state is VOID.’

In her report, Parham said Hoke can get her license reinstated if she participates in the state’s drug counseling program and later is found fit to return to work, but she will remain on probation and must agree to drug monitoring for at least three years under those circumstances.

The report was signed by Hoke on May 2 the dailymail reports. It remains unclear if Hoke has since embarked on rehabilitation.