Financial Instruments - Textual (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended					3 Months Ended					3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011 Contract	Jun. 30, 2011 Contract	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2012 Greece	Jun. 30, 2012 Italy	Mar. 31, 2012 Italy	Sep. 30, 2012 Italy	Sep. 30, 2012 Spain	Sep. 30, 2012 Portugal [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Accounts receivable collected from the government of Portugal related to 2011 and prior [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Spanish government's debt stabilization/stimulus plan [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Maximum planning cycle of third-party sales hedges			3 years
Maximum average period of maturities of contracts in years			1 year
Pretax gains (losses) from euro-denominated notes included in cumulative translation adjustments			$ 35,000,000	$ (84,000,000)
Number of swap contracts terminated	11	9
Notional amount of swap contracts terminated	1,600,000,000	3,500,000,000
Hedged fixed rate notes related to terminated interest rate swaps	1,600,000,000	3,500,000,000
Cash received from interest rate swap termination	113,000,000	175,000,000		288,000,000
Accrued interest received on termination of swap contracts	7,000,000	36,000,000
Deferred basis adjustment of debt associated with terminated interest rate swap contract	106,000,000	139,000,000		106,000,000
Aggregate notional amount for pay-floating, receive-fixed interest rate swap contracts, designated as fair value hedges for fixed-rate notes	250,000,000			250,000,000
Pre tax net unrealized loss on derivatives maturing within next 12 months estimated to be reclassified from AOCI to sales			103,000,000
Available-for-sale debt securities included in Short-term investments			757,000,000
Available-for-sale debt securities maturing after one year through five years			4,700,000,000
Cash and cash equivalents	14,253,000,000		17,360,000,000	14,253,000,000	13,531,000,000	10,900,000,000
Cash equivalents			16,600,000,000
Fair value of loans payable and long-term debt, including current portion			22,100,000,000		19,500,000,000
Carrying value of Loans payable and long-term debt, including current portion			19,600,000,000		17,500,000,000
Cash and cash equivalents invested in highly rated money market funds			50.00%
Total accounts receivable in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal			1,000,000,000
Hospital and public sector receivables in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal			700,000,000
Percentage of aggregate total hospital and public sector accounts receivable related to Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal							19.00%			41.00%	30.00%	10.00%
Percentage of accounts receivables outstanding for more than one year that relate to Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal			60.00%
Accounts receivable outstanding for more than one year			300,000,000
Accounts receivable collected													60,000,000	500,000,000
Receivables factored during period								120,000,000	110,000,000
Cash collateral received from counterparties			$ 313,000,000		$ 327,000,000