Stereotyping on Grey's Anatomy

Last week on Grey's Anatomy, there was a stereotype on the show I was very surprised to see. He was an old Native American man who was in desperate need of a heart transplant and had been waiting for a heart for years. On this week's show, he finally reached the top of the donor list and was offered a new healthy heart, but he refused the offer. He felt having someone else's heart in his chest was like burying someone else's soul in his and felt as though he would be haunted forever. Throughout the show, he spoke to one of the doctors of ghosts and certain rituals one could do in order to get rid of them. As I watched this, my first thought was "how could the writers be so stereotypical?" However as the show went on, I noticed that they included another character who was not Native American who was seeing ghosts as well. Did they do this to set off the stereotype or were they simply including this man to enhance the plot?