Real Estate and Lending Activities - Leasing Operations (Lessor) - Additional Information (Detail) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($) Property
Lessor Lease Description [Line Items]
Lease renewal term	5 years
Annual rent escalations	95.00%
Number of properties \| Property	5
Carrying value of lease requiring residual value guarantee \| $	$ 210
Minimum [Member]
Lessor Lease Description [Line Items]
Term of lease	10 years
Fixed minimum annual escalations	0.50%
Maximum [Member]
Lessor Lease Description [Line Items]
Term of lease	15 years
Fixed minimum annual escalations	3.00%

Lease fixed minimum annual escalations percentage.

No definition available.

Name:	mpw_LeaseFixedMinimumAnnualEscalationsPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	mpw_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Leases annual rent escalations percentage.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mpw_LeasesAnnualRentEscalationsPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	mpw_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of lessor properties.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	mpw_NumberOfLessorProperties
Namespace Prefix:	mpw_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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_LessorLeaseDescriptionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Term of lessor's operating lease renewal, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888428&loc=SL77919359-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorOperatingLeaseRenewalTerm
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Term of lessor's operating lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorOperatingLeaseTermOfContract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of residual asset covered by residual value guarantee. Excludes guarantee considered to be lease payments for lessor.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 7
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888428&loc=SL77919381-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ResidualValueOfLeasedAsset
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: