Fjeldjager procedure

The Fjeldjager procedure was developed by the little known colleague of Joseph Babiński John Arne Fjeldjager. He introduced the procedure to test his patients that were thought to be catatonic or had a stroke.

The Fjeldjager procedure is done by pouring water down the forehead and over the eyes to see if the client produced a reflex. With a true catatonic state or stroke the client does not blink from the water. This is named in medical terms as Neuman's syndrome. Most of the studies were conducted in a jail setting. William Wallace Ward was the first patient ever found not to be in the catatonic state, he had mimicked the state for 2 years.