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Guarantees
3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Guarantees [Abstract]  
Guarantees
11. 
Guarantees

We routinely grant limited warranties on our products with respect to defects in material and workmanship.  The terms of these warranties are generally one year, however, certain components and products have substantially longer warranty periods.  We recognize a reserve with respect to these obligations at the time of product sale, with subsequent warranty claims recorded directly against the reserve.  The amount of the warranty reserve is determined based on historical trend experience for the covered products.  For more significant warranty-related matters which might require a broad-based correction, separate reserves are established when such events are identified and the cost of correction can be reasonably estimated.  During the third quarter of fiscal 2012, we initiated a field corrective action on one of our med-surg product lines related to an electronics issue and recognized a charge of $16.0 million for this action. In the first quarter of fiscal 2013, we identified a new electronics issue with respect to this same product line and recognized an additional charge of $2.5 million to cover the estimated costs associated with the combined field corrective actions. These field corrective actions do not limit the manufacture, sale or ongoing use of these beds.

A reconciliation of changes in the warranty reserve for the periods covered in this report is as follows:

   
Quarterly Period Ended December 31
 
   
2012
   
2011
 
             
Balance at beginning of period
  $ 42.2     $ 17.8  
Provision for warranties during the period
    6.6       3.3  
Warranty claims during the period
    (6.8 )     (3.3 )
Balance at end of period
  $ 42.0     $ 17.8  

In the normal course of business we enter into various other guarantees and indemnities in our relationships with suppliers, service providers, customers, business partners and others.  Examples of these arrangements would include guarantees of product performance, indemnifications to service providers and indemnifications of our actions to business partners.  These guarantees and indemnifications have not historically nor do we expect them to have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations, although indemnifications associated with our actions generally have no dollar limitations.

In conjunction with our acquisition and divestiture activities, we have entered into select guarantees and indemnifications of performance with respect to the fulfillment of commitments under applicable purchase and sale agreements.  The arrangements generally indemnify the buyer or seller for damages associated with breach of contract, inaccuracies in representations and warranties surviving the closing date and satisfaction of liabilities and commitments retained under the applicable contract.  With respect to sale transactions, we also routinely enter into non-competition agreements for varying periods of time.  Guarantees and indemnifications with respect to acquisition and divestiture activities, if triggered, could have a materially adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.