Abstract
HIV infection has led to greater attention being paid to the duties and responsibilities of health sector professionals. There has been debate recently with regard to the obligation to submit a medical report affecting any health operator who discovers that his/her patient is HIV positive. This work argues that the obligation in question only applies in exceptional cases. For the obligation to submit a medical report to apply (art. 365 penal code), the doctor must become aware of concrete elements causing him to believe that a compulsorily prosecutable crime has been committed. Even though it may be argued that transmission of an infection represents bodily harm, the obligation to submit a report lapses in view of the fact that the patient himself may be penally liable, that is to say that transmission of the virus is more closely associated with negligent conduct with regard to which compulsory prosecution does not apply.