A town hall meeting about Grady Memorial Hospital last week served as a perfect metaphor for the troubled trauma center’s saga: snide attacks superseded solutions, chaos trumped compromise and Emory became the focus of unjustified attacks — again.

One thing is certain: The crusade against Emory by people like local activist Ron Marshall and state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) has officially turned into a witch hunt.

Last week, I wrote that Shafer had raised important questions in his blog about the Emory-Grady relationship that the University had to answer. Most importantly, I wanted to know whether allegations that Emory doctors improperly billed Grady for their services were accurate.

Emory has answered these questions and has done so convincingly — the answer is a definite “no.” In a recent press release, School of Medicine Dean Thomas Lawley and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Michael Johns provided evidence to show that the University’s time-recording practices compare favorably to those at other hospitals. Lawley and Johns made a more than adequate defense of their position. The attacks, however, have not abated.

I was at the town hall meeting, which was broadcast live on Atlanta’s CBS affiliate. The hour-long discussion included most of the major players in the Grady saga. Lawley and Johns represented Emory.

The scene before the start of the meeting was straight out of a Tom Wolfe novel.

Protestors in the audience chanted for the CBS news producers to add people representing their viewpoint — that public funds should be used to save Grady, and that the hospital’s board shouldn’t be privatized — to the panel.

In order to quell the protestors and to ensure that the TV broadcast wasn’t interrupted, CBS acquiesced to the demands, adding to the panel Marshall, who heads the New Grady Coalition. It seemed like an innocent decision at the time, but it would prove significant for Emory later on.

The first 55 minutes of the meeting were fine, if uneventful. The participants echoed their rehearsed sound bites, which did little to further the debates.

Then Marshall spoke.

With less than five minutes left in the meeting, Marshall accused Emory of “fudging” the numbers and of stealing patients from Grady in order to inflate its endowment. As Marshall spoke, I glanced at Emory’s Vice President for Communications Ron Sauder. He was furious and justifiably so.

Marshall took a cheap shot at Emory. Because there was little time left, Emory didn’t get a chance to respond. As a result, the general public was left with an unfavorable view of Emory. Even worse, because Marshall took up valuable time, Johns didn’t get a chance to speak. It would have been better for the public to hear from the CEO of Emory Healthcare than an uninformed activist.

In many ways, the fact that Marshall’s words took precedence over Johns’ is emblematic of the entire debate over the Emory-Grady relationship.

There are many reasons why critics are attacking Emory, but none of these reasons are based on fact. As I’ve written before, like many issues in Atlanta, opinions on Grady are divided along racial and economic lines. In such a debate, a school with a $5 billion endowment becomes an easy target.

Thankfully, the news isn’t all bad for Emory. Even if the University isn’t coming off well in the public debate, Emory administrators are waging a behind-the-scenes battle with prominent Georgia officials, including many of the state politicians. Public opinion is important to the debate, but it is the decisions these officials make that will ultimately decide Grady’s fate.

It’s unfortunate, however, that this sideshow about the Emory-Grady relationship detracts from the issue at hand: saving Grady.

Emory should continue to support Grady, but the University shouldn’t have to subsidize a hospital — at a significant loss, no less — in dire need of a de-politicized organizational structure. As others have argued, it’s imperative that Grady adopts the Metro Atlanta Task Force’s detailed plan to save the hospital.

Emory’s critics need to stop looking at the University as a scapegoat and start looking for viable solutions to one of the most important problems this city has faced in years. It’s because of Emory’s partnership with Grady that the hospital is open today, and it is because of Emory’s continued support of Grady that the hospital will remain open in the years to come.

Senior Editor Steven Stein is a College senior from Los Angeles. He is editor in chief of The Emory Political Review and an intern with Emory Healthcare.