Commitments and Contingencies (Details) (USD $) In Millions		12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010 Wake Forest Royalty Litigation [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Royalty payments made under the licensing agreement		$ 86
Amount Based Upon ZPIC's Audit Results	5.8
Amount Reduced To Based Upon Appeal	$ 5.1

In May 2011, based on an extrapolation of the ZPIC's audit results, the ZPIC determined that KCI USA, Inc. had been overpaid by Medicare in the amount of $5.8 million.

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- Definition

KCI appealed these claims to Redetermination and reduced the overpayment to $5.1 million.

+ Details

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of expense related to royalty payments under a contractual arrangement such as payment for mineral and drilling rights and use of technology or intellectual property.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 225

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 2

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.3)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6880815&loc=d3e20235-122688

+ Details

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