Note 14 - Stock Comp Plan (Details)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016 $ / shares
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Award vesting period (in years)	3 years
Share Based Compensation Shares Authorized Under Stock Option Plans Exercise Price Range01 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Exercise price range, lower range limit	$ 60.04
Exercise price range, upper range limit	64.42
Exercise Price Range 2 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Exercise price range, lower range limit	64.43
Exercise price range, upper range limit	75.63
Exercise Price Range 3 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Exercise price range, lower range limit	75.64
Exercise price range, upper range limit	80.37
Exercise Price Range 4 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Exercise price range, lower range limit	80.38
Exercise price range, upper range limit	$ 98.49

Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingPeriod1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- 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.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The floor of a customized range of exercise prices for purposes of disclosing shares potentially issuable under outstanding stock option awards on all stock option plans and other required information pertaining to awards in the customized range.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (g)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansExercisePriceRangeLowerRangeLimit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The ceiling of a customized range of exercise prices for purposes of disclosing shares potentially issuable under outstanding stock option awards on all stock option plans and other required information pertaining to awards in the customized range.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (g)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansExercisePriceRangeUpperRangeLimit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansByExercisePriceRangeAxis=lh_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansExercisePriceRange01Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansByExercisePriceRangeAxis=lh_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansExercisePriceRange02Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansByExercisePriceRangeAxis=lh_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansExercisePriceRange03Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansByExercisePriceRangeAxis=lh_ShareBasedCompensationSharesAuthorizedUnderStockOptionPlansExercisePriceRange04Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: