Hannah Bozier was taken from her parents aged one

Cisapride, prescribed for heartburn in young children, became available in 1988. It was banned in the UK and the US in July 2000 after fears it caused major heart problems known as arrythmais.

Medics have since found that these side effects match those shown in babies whose mothers were accused of Munchausens Syndrome By Proxy - a condition in which a parent harms a child to bring attention to themselves.

Professor Colin Morley, now of the Royal Womens' Hospital in Melbourne, told the Real Story programme: "In almost every one of these cases where I was involved where mothers were accused, the child was actually on Cisapride.

Breathing attacks

"We've stopped seeing nearly so many cases of Munchausens since people have stopped using Cisapride."

The drug interferes with cardiac rhythm, turning some children very pale and causing an almost near death experience before the child recovers.

We'll never get the time back we lost with Hannah. We weren't there when she took her first steps Sharon Bozier

Campaigners who have examined cases of Munchausens Syndrome By Proxy in the UK say about 150 women whose children were taking Cisapride were wrongly diagnosed with the condition.

Sharon Bozier's baby girl, Hannah, who was prescribed Cisapride, was taken into care in 1993 after a doctor suggested the infant's breathing attacks were caused by her mother.

But witnesses to the attacks came forward - including a nurse and an ambulance man - and after nine months in care, baby Hannah was returned to her family.

"I resent it greatly," says Ms Bozier, from Boston, Lincolnshire.

"We'll never get the time back we lost with Hannah. We weren't there when she took her first steps."

Controversial testimony

Another woman, Karen Haynes, was told while pregnant that her newborn baby would be taken into care because she had previously been diagnosed with MSBP.

The diagnosis came from Professor Meadow, the controverisal expert who gave evidence for the prosecution in the trial of Sally Clark. The Cheshire solicitor was freed after the Appeal Court found her convictions were "unsafe" and that she did not have a fair trial.

In the Haynes' case, he told a family court that Karen Haynes had probably smothered her first child, Michael, who died in hospital of a heart attack.

Karen and Mark Haynes' daughter was adopted by another family

Michael, born in 1998, was also taking Cisapride. He stopped breathing at six weeks old and was rushed into hospital where he was diagnosed as having digestive problems.

After further attacks, he was found to have swelling of the brain and was given resusciation treatment from which he did not recover.

Karen fell pregnant again, but social services told her the unborn child would be placed on the child protection register as a result of a report written by Professor Meadow.

The paediatrician had not met the Haynes but believed that Michael's symptoms had been consistent with a smothering case.

"We hope that one day our adopted daughter will come looking for us," Karen told Real Story, "and will want to know about her brother and everything that happened."

There has still not been an inquest for Michael's death but heart surgeon Dr Andrew Grace of Cambridge University said Cisapride could be strongly implicated in it.

"There were something in excess of 250 to 300 adverse events, including over 150 sudden deaths, due to this drug, and the manner of those deaths would have been exactly as happened to this child."

Professor Meadow declined to comment.