Accounting Policies (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended					3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 subsidiaries	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2011 Furniture and Fixtures [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Building and Building Improvements [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Asia/Pacific [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Asia/Pacific [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 NA/HME [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 NA/HME [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 NA/HME [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 NA/HME [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Europe [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Europe [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Europe [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 IPG [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 IPG [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Convertible Subordinated Debt [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Maximum [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Selling General and Administrative Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Selling General and Administrative Expense [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Selling General and Administrative Expense [Member]
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Estimated Market for Medical Equipment and Supplies	$ 11,000,000,000
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life, Minimum				3	5
Property, Plant and Equipment, Useful Life, Maximum				10	40
Goodwill, Impairment Loss	47,719,000					39,729,000	39,729,000							0
Goodwill, Estimated Impairment Charge								7,990,000		7,990,000
Impairment of Intangible Assets, Finite-lived						201,000		508,000	800,000		248,000				625,000
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets, Impairment Losses												427,000	896,000			336,000
Annual Policy Losses Insured per Occurence																		10,000,000
Annual Policy Losses, in Aggregate																		13,000,000
Annual Policy Losses, External Insurance Coverage, in Aggregate																		75,000,000
Research and Development Expense	27,556,000	25,954,000	25,725,000
Advertising Expense	19,523,000	20,119,000	16,519,000
Allocated Share-based Compensation Expense																			6,640,000	6,135,000	4,495,000
Number of Subsidiaries	2
Deferred Tax Liabilities, Undistributed Foreign Earnings	$ 660,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Initial Conversion Price																	$ 24.79