Springfield Woman Wants Congressional Hearings Over Breast-Implant Maker

A Springfield woman who used to work for a breast-implant manufacturer says she hopes Congressman Roy Blunt will demand Congressional hearings on implants made by her former emploiyer, Mentor Corporation. The woman, Kim Hoffman, filed a lawsuit in 2003 saying the company hid high rupture rates. Food and Drug Administraiton advisors recently told the FDA that Mentor should be allowed to expand sales of the implants under certain conditions. Hoffman says her lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality. She says her implants caused her to have severe physical problems that qualified her for disability pay when she was 34. She had them removed. Excerpts from Hoffman and another former employee were published in the New York Times this weekend.