Real Estate and Lending Activities - Summary of Operations for Assets Disposed in 2016 (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Income Statement Disclosures [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 244	$ 7,851
Real estate depreciation and amortization		(1,754)
Property-related expenses		(114)
Other income (expense)	45	(23)
Income from real estate dispositions, net	$ 289	$ 5,960

Disposal group including discontinued operation other income expense.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Disposal group including discontinued operation property related expense.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mpw_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationPropertyRelatedExpense
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- Definition

Amount of depreciation and amortization expense attributable to disposal group, including, but not limited to, discontinued operation.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 205
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5B
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64827811&loc=SL51721673-107760

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of gross profit attributable to disposal group, including, but not limited to, discontinued operation.

+ References

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of revenue attributable to disposal group, including, but not limited to, discontinued operation.

+ References

+ Details

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- References

No definition available.

+ Details

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