Embattled Grady Memorial Hospital CEO Pamela Stephenson defended her two-year, $1.2 million contract Thursday, saying it is fair and valid, not a sweetheart deal done in secret as some officials have characterized it.

"I wouldn't have signed an unfair contract," Stephenson said. "No one has done anything wrong ... I'll never apologize for being Pamela Stephenson."

Stephenson took on her critics at an afternoon news conference at the New Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur. About 30 of her supporters cheered her and stood to speak in her favor.

Stephenson said she is in talks about the contract with the hospital's new board, which expects to replace her as CEO within weeks.

The state of those negotiations is in dispute.

Stephenson said the talks were going "very well."

But Grady's new board chairman, Pete Correll, said Thursday that the talks, in progress for three weeks, have bogged down.

"We have made no progress," he said by phone.

Correll particularly took exception to the provision in the contract that would let Stephenson receive a $750,000 golden parachute should she be replaced within one year.

News of Stephenson's contract, which was obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and reported Tuesday, has raised a firestorm among Georgia lawmakers and Grady hospital officials.

The contract was awarded by the hospital's old board, the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority. On Thursday Authority member Sandra Holliday said she was concerned because she neither saw the contract nor voted on it. She became the fourth authority member to publicly object on those grounds.

"It's just not how you do business," Holliday said.

Publicly agreeing with Holliday were board members Thomas Dortch, Carl Patton and Dick Teters.

Holliday said she wants the board to meet quickly to obtain answers about why some board members were left out of the process.

The contract, which calls for a $600,000 annual base salary and various other benefits including a $10,000 annual car allowance, was negotiated by members of the old board, the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, of which Stephenson is chairwoman.

The contract was set before the new board, the Grady Memorial Hospital Corp., took over. That new board's mission included hiring a new CEO, and some critics said the old board had overstepped its bounds in awarding the contract.

Monday, the new board announced four finalists for the job, not including Stephenson.

That leaves the question of her contract up in the air as the beleaguered hospital, Atlanta's major trauma center and medical safety net for the poor, struggles to survive. The new CEO is expected to be named in two weeks.

Grady officials have said the hospital, which has hemorrhaged money for years, was about to succumb last year to the constant crush of uninsured patients, dwindling government payments, rising costs and years of neglect of facilities and equipment.

The Robert Woodruff Foundation stepped in and provided a lifeline with a $200 million grant, of which $50 million was recently awarded.

Some officials were especially appalled since the million-dollar contract was awarded as Grady was threatened.

One of the aspects of the contract that infuriated people was the way it was drawn up.

Correll said the existence of the contract with Stephenson should have been disclosed before now.

"This issue needs to be resolved quickly and if Pam has something to offer, I'm eager to see it," Correll said.

Fulton County Commissioner Robert Pitts also raised concerns about the contract being put in place behind closed doors.

"I'm still in shock, as is everyone," he said.

But Stephenson said the process was aboveboard.

While she acknowledged Thursday that the full authority board had not voted on the final contract document, she insisted that the board's public resolution in January to hire her and draw up a contract was sufficient.

"It is not a secret deal," she said. "Whatever happens, I'm self-respecting and conscience-free."

Staff writer Heather Vogell contributed to this report.