Acquisitions (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Jun. 23, 2011	Jun. 21, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jul. 01, 2011	Apr. 01, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Oct. 01, 2010	Jul. 02, 2010	Apr. 02, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Jan. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2011 Beckman Coulter, Inc. Acquisition [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Beckman Coulter, Inc. Acquisition [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Beckman Coulter, Inc. Acquisition [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Beckman Coulter, Inc. Acquisition [Member]	Jan. 30, 2010 AB Sciex & Molecular Devices [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 AB Sciex & Molecular Devices [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Others [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Others [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 2011 Acquisitions [Member] Others [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 2010 Acquisitions [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 2010 Acquisitions [Member] AB Sciex & Molecular Devices [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 2010 Acquisitions [Member] Others [Member]
Business Acquisition, Contingent Consideration [Line Items]
Sales			$ 4,716,600,000	$ 4,445,800,000	$ 3,635,900,000	$ 3,292,200,000	$ 3,433,000,000	$ 3,026,900,000	$ 3,149,500,000	$ 2,940,600,000	$ 16,090,540,000	$ 12,550,033,000	$ 10,516,681,000				$ 3,700,000,000
Goodwill related to acquisitions																		3,700,000,000				423,000,000	419,000,000	1,200,000,000
Business acquisition purchase price			6,210,800,000				2,129,700,000				6,210,800,000	2,129,700,000	703,500,000		5,500,000,000				1,000,000,000					2,129,700,000	1,038,300,000	1,091,400,000
Net cash acquired															450,000,000
Fair value of debt at acquisition date			5,790,100,000				3,372,600,000				5,790,100,000	3,372,600,000			1,600,000,000
Cash paid on business acquisition, available cash															2,300,000,000
Net proceeds from underwritten public offering of the Company's common stock		966,000,000									1,112,551,000	178,406,000	174,233,000
Net proceeds from debt	1,800,000,000
Businesses acquired																					17	15	13
Net cash consideration											6,210,837,000	2,129,652,000	703,511,000								1,100,000,000	704,000,000	669,000,000
Ownership interest acquired in Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex joint venture ("AB Sciex")														50.00%
Ownership interest acquired in Molecular Devices Corporation														100.00%
Ownership interest acquired in Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex joint venture ("AB SCIEX") from Life Technologies Corporation														50.00%
Annual aggregate sales based on acquired businesses																				650,000,000		425,000,000
Aggregate annual sales of additional businesses																					440,000,000		325,000,000
Fair value adjustments to inventory and deferred revenue																117,000,000
Acquisition-related transaction costs																60,000,000	60,000,000
Transaction related costs											57,000,000	36,000,000	24,000,000
Impact of pre-tax charges reflected in earnings											$ 117,000,000	$ 54,000,000	$ 13,000,000