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Financing (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)
Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified
3 Months Ended
Apr. 03, 2015
Dec. 31, 2014
Debt Instrument [Line Items]    
Common stock, par value, dollars per share $ 0.01us-gaap_CommonStockParOrStatedValuePerShare $ 0.01us-gaap_CommonStockParOrStatedValuePerShare
Revolving credit facility    
Debt Instrument [Line Items]    
Line of credit $ 2,500,000,000us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity
/ us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis
= us-gaap_RevolvingCreditFacilityMember
 
Borrowings outstanding under credit facility 0us-gaap_LineOfCredit
/ us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis
= us-gaap_RevolvingCreditFacilityMember
 
Commercial paper    
Debt Instrument [Line Items]    
Weighted average interest rate of long-term debt, interest rate 0.17%us-gaap_LongtermDebtWeightedAverageInterestRate
/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= us-gaap_CommercialPaperMember
 
Weighted average maturity of long-term debt (in days) 7 days  
Commercial paper 450,000,000us-gaap_CommercialPaper
/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= us-gaap_CommercialPaperMember
764,600,000us-gaap_CommercialPaper
/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= us-gaap_CommercialPaperMember
Euro-denominated commercial paper    
Debt Instrument [Line Items]    
Commercial paper 0us-gaap_CommercialPaper
/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= dhr_EuroDenominatedCommercialPaperMember
 
2021 LYONs | Convertible debt    
Debt Instrument [Line Items]    
Shares issued under debt conversion, shares 1.0us-gaap_DebtConversionConvertedInstrumentSharesIssued1
/ us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis
= dhr_LiquidYieldOptionNotesDueTwoThousandAndTwentyOneMember
/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= us-gaap_ConvertibleDebtMember
 
Common stock, par value, dollars per share $ 0.01us-gaap_CommonStockParOrStatedValuePerShare
/ us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis
= dhr_LiquidYieldOptionNotesDueTwoThousandAndTwentyOneMember
/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= us-gaap_ConvertibleDebtMember
 
Deferred tax liability, basis difference in LYONs $ 13,000,000dhr_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesLYONSBasisDifference
/ us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis
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/ us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis
= us-gaap_ConvertibleDebtMember