Fothergill's sign is a

medical sign Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showi ...

. If a mass in the abdominal wall does not cross midline and does not change with flexion of the rectus muscles, this is a positive sign for a rectus sheath hematoma. It is named for English obstetrician

William Edward Fothergill William Edward Fothergill (4 October 1865 – 4 November 1926) was professor of clinical obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Manchester. Life Fothergill was born in Southampton, England and brought up in Darlington. He came from a f ...

, who described features of rectus sheath hematomas in a 1926 article in the

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origin ...

entitled "Haematoma in the abdominal wall simulating pelvic new growth". In rectus sheath haematoma, the haematoma produces a mass that does not cross the midline and remains palpable when the rectus muscle is tense.

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Medical signs {{med-sign-stub