You are a CMA working in the office of a physician who performs major surgical procedures on hospitalized patients. A patient, who is the father of a friend of yours, comes in for a pre-surgical exam. You happen to know that this man is an alcoholic. You also know that the surgeon you work for does not like to perform surgery on alcoholic patients since he believes they have difficulty healing and often have excessive bleeding after surgery. You wish to tell the surgeon about the man’s drinking problem, but you are afraid that it would be a HIPAA violation.