Document And Entity Information - shares	9 Months Ended
	Oct. 02, 2015	Oct. 16, 2015
Document And Entity Information [Abstract]
Document type	10-Q
Amendment flag	false
Document period end date	Oct. 02, 2015
Document fiscal year focus	2015
Document fiscal period focus	Q3
Trading symbol	dhr
Entity registrant name	DANAHER CORP /DE/
Entity central index key	0000313616
Current fiscal year end date	--12-31
Entity filer category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity common stock, shares outstanding		685,285,314