This research aims at proposing a text typology of digital medical genres based on a Spanish-English corpus collected from accredited medical web sites. The characterization of genres had as a framework the context dimensions proposed by Hatim y Mason (1990): pragmatic, communicative and semiotic dimensions. Methodologically, the emphasis was the empirical compilation and identification of genres and their pragmatic analysis, that is, the identification of text functions. This pragmatic characterization allowed us the making of a typology of genres. In this typology the prevailing text functions were expository and instructional and the most predominant communication level was found to be oriented to the layman. This research is framed within the communicative and socio-cultural approach in Translation Studies.