Copyright 1994 CDRP/Chestnut CD ROM & BBS LEGAL GUIDE, INC.
OVERVIEW:
Welcome to HIV/AIDS RESOURCE GUIDE, Volume 1, Number 1, January, 1994.
This CD-ROM contains a comprehensive resource library with:
state laws related to AIDS/HIV
federal laws related to AIDS/HIV
court opinions related to AIDS/HIV
the proposed Health Security Act
news items about AIDS/HIV
as well as legal forms for living wills, wills and powers of attorney.
This program is not a final encyclopedia of all laws related to HIV because the laws related to AIDS/HIV change daily. Each month legislatures pass new laws, and courts issue new opinions. For example, the White House made over 200 technical changes to the Health Security Act between the time it was first released and its filing in Congress. (The printed version sold in bookstores IS NOT up to date.) The HIV/AIDS resource guide provides a snap shot of the law related to these subjects, at the date of publication, January 14, 1994.
The first edition is a baseline edition. Our goal for this edition was to write a program which contained all state and federal laws directly mentioning, or known to directly affect the many persons who have questions about HIV law or the proposed Health Security Act. We will issue updates 3 times a year. (Each update will be complete in and of itself-- no flipping back and forth between different CDs.) Each additional version will update all of the material already contained, and add new material.
In addition, the authors intend to provide a work without ideological overtones. This program should be considered as a text book. It is a work of journalism or scholarship, not advocacy. Please do not construe any comments that our editorial staff has added into materials as implying any particular position. This product is for all persons with an interest in the many questions related to HIV and the law.
We have more than met our goal for this edition. This CD contains well over 14,000 traditional printed pages!
One major advantage of CD-ROMs is that dozens of volumes of traditional printed books are consolidated in one place. We are sure that all persons with an interest in HIV law and the proposed health care reform act will find answers to their questions in the HIV/AIDS Resource Guide. Professionals now have a convenient one stop place for access to the vast amount of information in this field.
In the next edition, we will add numerous new items, such as:
a greatly expanded legal forms section
additional library information such as pleadings and briefs from lawsuits mentioned in the program
user requested information
new laws and court decisions as passed
Throughout various files you will notice comments stating specific government reports and other materials that will be included in updates.
ALL USERS ARE INVITED TO WRITE OR CALL IN WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE UPDATES. USERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO SEND IN NEWS ITEMS. (SEE ADDRESSES in section 3-1). We carefully consider all user suggestions, and virtually all suggestions are incorporated in future editions.
For most convenient use of the program, please read the INTRO.TXT and QUESTION.TXT files. The INTRO.TXT file contains a list of legal terms and abbreviations and an orientation to reading legal opinions; QUESTION.TXT contains specific questions which users may have, and outlines on where to find the answer. Please at least skim through our manual! It will make the use of this program much simpler.
COMPANION PRODUCT
For more general legal concerns, The COMPLETE HOME & OFFICE LEGAL GUIDE, also published by Chestnut/CDRP will be of help to you. The COMPLETE HOME & OFFICE LEGAL GUIDE is a general legal self-help package, including 500 general legal forms, and thousands and thousands of pages of annotated and indexed legal material of general use for family law, small business law and corporate law. Order through your CDRP dealer.
INTRODUCTION
PLEASE READ ALL FILES WITH EXTENSIONS OF ".TXT" that came with your program for important information and any last minute news and changes.
SPECIAL NOTE: IN THIS MANUAL ITEMS TO BE ENTERED ON THE COMPUTER ARE ENCLOSED IN ANGLED BRACKETS "< >". Follow the entry with the ENTER key. Do not type the brackets. The brackets are just place holders for the text that you will type.
1) System Requirements/Installation
2) Use of the program
3) Customer Satisfaction- Support
4) About our staff
5) Legalese-- warranties, trademarks, warnings
6) Index
SECTION ONE
INSTALLATION
Section 1-1
INSTALLATION
To install the HIV-AIDS RESOURCE GUIDE (well call it RESOURCE GUIDE hereafter) place the CD in your CD-ROM drive. Then make the CD drive the active drive by entering the letter name of the drive followed by a colon. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is named L:, then enter:
<L:>
You must run the install program, or else you will not be able to use the program! REPEAT: Run install.exe first!
The command to install is, surprisingly enough,
<INSTALL>
Please follow the on screen prompts to complete the installation process. The install process will take you about a minute or so. The install program will make a directory on the hard drive disk of your choice for saving documents you create or statutes/cases you export called \AIDSLAW.
The install utility will then list the present sub-directories that are on your path. Please select one of these for writing the batch file needed to start the program. By making such a selection you will be able to start the program from any directory on the system. If you do not select, the file is written to the root directory of drive C, C:\.
The only items that are written to the hard drive are documents you create, or files you export. All of the data will remain on the CD.
SECTION 1-2 SYSTEMS REQUIREMENTS
In order to operate this program, your computer must:
1) Have MS/PC-DOS 4.0 or higher or equivalent DR DOS; (The program is compatible with DOS shells included in MS Windows or IBMs OS/2);
To find out which version of DOS you are using, please enter:
<ver>
and you will receive a cheery message such as
MS-DOS VER 4.01
In general most 386, 486 or Pentium systems will support this program;
2) have a hard drive (fixed disk);
3) have at least 512 K Bytes of USABLE memory within the first 640KB.
[Technical note: Many computer users have machines that are installed with 640K but install many Terminate and stay resident (TSR or "memory resident" programs) which each use memory, dropping usable memory to less than 512 K; if you cannot operate this program dump out of it (the time honored process of giving the three fingered salute--pressing Control, Alternate and Delete at once to "warm" reboot) and at a system prompt type, exactly
<chkdsk>
Your machine should whirl and click and then announce something like this along with information about the space left on your disk drive:
655360 bytes total memory
610000 bytes free
if you have less than 512000 bytes of memory free, then you must read the manuals for your memory resident software or software drivers and delete some of them so that you have at least 512000 free when you run this program.]
4) Have a CD ROM drive and the Microsoft MS-DOS CD ROM extensions, also known as MSCDEX;
There is no minimum requirement for graphics adapters or color monitors, although we recommend VGA color.
A printer is required to print out statutes, cases or documents.
SECTION 1-3 PRINTING THIS MANUAL
To obtain a printed manual, you may display the manual through the statutes menu, under the news sub-category, and then print it out as described in Section 2-7 or export the file in one of 6 word processing formats as described in section 2-8.
SECTION 2
STARTING THE PROGRAM; USING THE PROGRAM
Section 2-1 START UP AND MAIN MENU
In order to start the program type:
<aidslaw>
and press the Return key. (This key is also called the ENTER key, and is usually marked on your keyboard with a left descending arrow. Throughout this manual, it will be referred to as
<Return>.)
The main menu offers a help screen.
Section 2-2 MOUSE USERS
Your mouse must be MS DOS compatible, and the mouse driver must be loaded for the rodent to operate. For more information on loading your mouse driver, please see the manual that came with your rodent. Clicking the left button sends a carriage return, the right button page down, both buttons, sends Escape. Moving the rodent up and down advances the cursor up and down. NOTE: We do not have a separate mouse cursor. The mouse is emulating the cursor keys.
Section 2-3 SELECTING MAIN MENU OPTIONS
To select your choice, either use the cursor keys (up and down arrows) to highlight the choice you want, or, enter the letter corresponding to your choice, and then press
<Return>.
We will explain the operation of the dos shell, statutes, and tutorials, document preparation and editing documents separately.
Section 2-4 THE SHELL GAME- OUR DOS "SHELL"
Choice "S"- DOS Shell-- Our DOS "shell" is a utility program that allows you to perform tasks, while retaining the RESOURCE GUIDE in memory. For example, if you want to format a floppy disk, but do not want to exit the program, then choose the DOS Shell option, by either highlighting this option using the cursor keys (up and down arrows) or pressing
<S>
then press <RETURN>. The machine then displays a message indicating that your operating system is loaded. For example,
Microsoft (R) MS-DOS (R) Version 4.01
(C) Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1981-1986
you may then operate DOS commands. At all times, the RESOURCE GUIDE remains in memory. To resume use of the program, type
<EXIT>
and then <Return>. This will return you to the opening screen.
Section 2-5 THE NAVIGATOR
The Navigator displays a strip, on the bottom of each screen, listing the active keys. The navigator strip is your the best place for help in getting around the program.
Section 2-6 STATUTES MENU
THE RESOURCE GUIDE contains the full text, with annotations of many important laws and governmental regulations. To choose this option from the main menu, press
<B>
and then <Return>, or highlight this option by using the cursor keys- up and down arrows. Because we have so many statutes, they are separated into sub-menus. Categories and sub-categories are listed in capital letters; entries that you may choose are listed in mixed case letters.
The best way to learn is by doing!
The top-level Categories are all labeled with a "1" to the left of the Category name, as in the following example:
Press Enter for HELP
1 <- FEDERAL STATUTES AND REGULATIONS CATEGORY
1 <- STATE LAWS AND REGULATIONS
1 <- PROPOSED LAWS
Use your cursor keys (or your mouse if you are running the rodential version of THE RESOURCE GUIDE) to select the one of interest to you. It will highlight. Press ENTER or the left mouse button to select that entry.
The category you selected will remains on screen, and the next level is listed on the screen below it.
Now, you can see that there are upper and lower case indented selections. These are items that you can display, print or export in your word processor.
If you want to return to level 1 or 2 highlight that number and you will be returned to that menu level.
SECTION 2-7 PRINTING OUT STATUTES
To print the statute you have chosen press <P> (Remember that the navigator is always there for you and there is an on line help file!) The file print function is "straight ASCII." If you are using a laser printer be sure to disable "landscape" printing or other settings which will cause the printer to decline to print normal ASCII text.
SECTION 2-8 EXPORT OF STATUTES
You may also export the material in ASCII, Word Star for DOS 5-7, Microsoft Windows Write 3.1, Word Perfect for DOS 5.1, Rich Text Format or Microsoft Word for DOS.
To export a file in one of these word processing formats, press
<F>
for file out, and then select the conversion you desire. THE FILE WILL BE WRITTEN IN THE SELECTED FORMAT in a file named TEMP.OUT to the directory where you installed the program. The file will ALWAYS be named TEMP.OUT. You must rename TEMP.OUT or copy it to another sub-directory, since your next export will over-write TEMP.OUT.
Go forth and work with the system! YOU WILL FIND IT to be very convenient after the first few times you use it.
Once you are reading the full text, you will occasionally see blocks of text marked with "/*" and closed with "*/." These are distinguishing place holders to show comments authored by our staff as opposed to the full text of the law or regulation. Copyright stuff: OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER OF COPYRIGHT TO FEDERAL WORKS. We do not claim copyright on U.S. government material contained in the statutes menu. In addition we do not claim copyright to state court decisions or laws. However we do claim copyright on all the rest of the program and on the comments within the statutes.
Section 2-9 BROWSING THROUGH THE STATUTES
You may read the statutes by pressing the page up, page down, cursor keys for up and down (up and down arrows.) The left and right cursor keys are special. The left arrow key returns you to the previous comment; the right arrow searches for the next comment.
If you press the left arrow key and the text does not change, this means that you are seeing the first comment; if you press the right arrow key and the text does not change you are then viewing the last comment in the file.
Section 2-10 EXITING FROM STATUTES
To leave a statute, you may press
Escape <ESC>
or, to exit the program completely, press
<X>
which will send you back to DOS and quit the program.
Section 2-11 TUTORIAL MENU
THE RESOURCE GUIDE contains tutorials, which are brief explanations of the living will laws. To select this option, either highlight option C from the main menu, or, enter the letter
<C>
Then press <RETURN>.
Since the law related to many areas of HIV law are in a state of flux, we have not provided further tutorials at this time. We will do so in future editions, once the law is clarified in specific areas.
Section 2-12 SELECTING A TUTORIAL
Once you have determined which tutorial you might want to read or review, please highlight it by using the cursor keys (up and down arrows). Then press <Return>. You will then be able to see the text of a tutorial.
You can read through the tutorial by using the cursor keys, page down, page up or the home or end keys.
Section 2-13 READING FULL TEXT OF LAWS OR REGULATIONS DISCUSSED- OPENING A SECOND WINDOW
Let's get back to the tutorial. If you would like to read and review the full text of the laws discussed in a tutorial , you can review this simultaneously with the tutorial by opening a second "window." To do so, press the letter
<S>
and you will be able to select to view the on line dictionary or to view a help screen for tutorials.
To select which option you desire, use the cursor keys (up and down arrow) to highlight the item you want to view. Then press return. The selected item (the on line dictionary, help or other materials) will then appear on the screen; to toggle back and forth between the tutorial and the selected, press
<O>
Section 2-14 DRAFTING DOCUMENTS
THE DOCUMENT GENERATOR
We are very proud of our document generation program and hope that you will be as well. Through the use of this part of the program you will be able to draft custom legal papers that are legal and binding in all 50 states. These forms will accomplish their objectives. If you use a form that isn't right you'll have a legal and valid form that accomplishes something other than you desired.
READ CAREFULLY
************************************************************ Please review the warranty disclaimer and sign-on notice. ************************************************************
In order to begin using the forms generator, from the main menu, please select option "E", prepare legal documents, by either entering
<E>
and then <Return> or using the cursor keys (up and down arrows) to select this option.
The document menu operates similarly to the statutes menu.
The future editions of this program will expand the document preparation menu extensively including:
corporate policies for hiring/firing/accommodating employees
instruments for the sale or borrowing against insurance policies
administrative or court filings for discrimination complaints
answers to discrimination complaints
example pleadings for use in lawsuits or administrative hearings internal regulations for schools
internal regulations for airlines and other common carrier
Again, user input is welcomed!
SECTION 2-15 BUILDING DOCUMENTS: SCREENS
In using option "E" the prepare/save/print/export legal documents menu (the document generator), you will then see two types of form building screens- a multiple choice box and a fill in the blank box.
SECTION 2-16 FILL IN THE BLANK SCREENS
First the fill in the blank box:
Enter, exactly as you wish to see it, the information requested. Be careful to put it in the format requested- if the fill in the blank box asks for the information in numerals, use numerals. If it asks for information in numbers, enter numbers. Once you have finished filling in the blanks, then hit return. You can "edit" a line prior to entering "return" by using the backspace key. If you have made a horrible goof and want to start from scratch, use the tab forward key to highlight the "cancel" choice on the bottom of the dialogue box, and press return. The document will then be canceled. You will be returned to the document preparation category or sub-category. A second option is to leave the document with the error and fix it either with the on-line word processor or your own word processor.
On occasions the space which is provided for entry of data is too small. In that case, simply enter in the fill in the blank box "See exhibit 1 (etc.)" and use a separate sheet to continue. Or you can fill in the document and then use the built-in word processor to put in the rest of the information.
SECTION 2-17 MULTIPLE CHOICE SCREENS
You will also see multiple choice boxes. Use the up arrow and down arrow (cursor keys) to place the "bullet" in the choice that you would like, and press <Return>.
SECTION 2-18 NUMERICAL AMOUNTS
When amounts of money need to be input, enter them in the following form:
<213.45>
<22000.00>
Commas are not required and dollar signs should not be used. The
program will prompt for numerical amounts and then will transliterate them into their numerical equivalents. Thus, if you enter 100, the program will show it as
$ 100.00 (One hundred & no/100 Dollars)
automatically!
SECTION 2-19 SUGGESTED INPUTS
Many screens contain suggested inputs. For example, the "number of days between installments" on the installment promissory note has several choices. The final choice "KEY IN VALUE" allows you to put whichever choice you desire in the form if the suggestions don't fit your needs. To enter your own value, place the bullet in the KEY IN VALUE choice and then press ENTER. Then type in your choice.
(for save) and then fill in the name of the document. MS-DOS limits you to eight characters and an extension on a file, for example- "foobar.doc." We don't-- your document can be named meaningfully using up to 72 characters, including blanks-- Thus, a last will and testament dated 1/14/94:
Last will & testament, 1/14/94- changes in burial plans added
Use a completely descriptive name so you will know exactly what the document is.
SECTION 2-21 PRINTING DOCUMENTS
To print out a document, after completing your answers, and seeing the document, press <P>, and a dialogue box will ask you use the cursor key to say "yes" or "no." Before saying yes be sure that the printer is connected to the computer, turned on, and has ribbons and paper. (Or if it is a laser printer, that it has toner and paper!) You may use a printer of your choice from daisy wheel, a dot matrix to a laser.
IF YOU ARE USING A LASER PRINTER BE SURE TO CLEAR OUT ANY CODES THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE SET FOR GRAPHICS OR LANDSCAPE PRINTING. THE PRINT OUTPUT IS ORDINARY "ASCII."
SECTION 2-22 REVIEWING DOCUMENTS
To print out a document which you previously saved, go to the main menu and either use the cursor key or enter the letter
<F>
and then press <Return>. The documents, with titles that you have chosen will appear on screen. To see one, highlight that document and press <Return.> To print, press
<P>
check that you are ready and then print away. To write the document to file named "TEMP.OUT," press
<F>
and the Return key. The TEMP.OUT file will be written to the /AIDSLAW sub-directory which was created during installation. The output is in ASCII format. Be sure to rename or move the file, since the next file export will overwrite the previous export.
SECTION 2-23 DELETING DOCUMENTS
For your own sanity, you should only delete the documents that are on the "review/print/delete" menu from within the system. (Copies exported to TEMP.OUT can be deleted any way you see fit.) To delete a document, first select the document, and press enter so that you are viewing that document. To delete hold down the <Alt> key and while holding the ALT key down, press
<D>
(for delete.) This will permanently erase a document, and in most cases even an undelete program will not save you! Be sure that you intend to do so before zapping a document to never-never land!
SECTION 2-24 EDITING DOCUMENTS
Once you have prepared a document, you may change it with the
built in text editor.
The text editor contains a complete help screen. Just hit
<F1>
for complete help.
NOTE: THE MOUSE IS DISABLED DURING USE OF OUR EDITOR.
SECTION 3
Section 3-1: SUPPORT
Support is available through Chestnut/CDRP, via voice during regular business hours, Eastern time, Monday through Friday: 1-617-494-5330
or via fax, 1-617-494-6094.
Or write:
CDRP
P.O. Box 360
Cambridge MA 02141-0004
Section 3-2 UPDATES
Laws change, frequently. THE RESOURCE GUIDE is updated and expanded 3 times yearly. Every new issue contains a complete update of all materials.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS FOR UPDATE TOPICS AND FORMS through CDRP.
SECTION 3-3 MEDIA INTERVIEWS
The legal and technical staff of THE RESOURCE GUIDE are available for newspaper, magazine, radio and television interviews. Our staff provides an unbiased perspective on the laws related to HIV/AIDS and cutting edge information about the exploding CD-ROM industry. Please contact CDRP to obtain media information or to schedule interviews. Our staff have extensive media experience and eagerly await your calls. We will make every effort to accommodate short notice requests.
SECTION 4-1
WHO WE ARE
It takes many persons to put together a project of this magnitude. The staff of BBS LEGAL GUIDE, INC. that prepared this program consist of:
Project leader- Warren Clary, P.E
Logistics leader and editor in chief- Amy Seeberger
Legal editor- Herb Kraft
Chief Paralegal- Scott Briscoe
Systems specialist- E. Ray Clary, P.E.
Thanks to everyone at CDRP for their assistance.
SECTION 4-2
OTHER PROGRAMS
The staff also authored the best selling COMPLETE AND OFFICE LEGAL GUIDE. This Chestnut CD-ROM contains over 500 menu driven legal forms and thousands of pages of legal information, in a format similar to this program. This CD for MS-DOS provides a wealth of information for personal, family and business issues.
SECTION 5
LEGALESE
Section 5-1 LIMITATION OF WARRANTY
Please see the package insert for warranty limitations.
Section 5-2 TRADEMARKS
IBM PC, PS/2, AT, XT, and PC-DOS are trademarks of IBM. MS-DOS, Microsoft Word, MS Windows and OS/2 are trademarks of Microsoft. DR-DOS is a trademark of Digital Research. UNIX is a trademark of Bell Labs.
Section 5-3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
"Mouse.com" is copyright 1983,1984 by Microsoft, and is used under license. The programmers and editors note for the record that Diet Coke Brand of sugar free beverage, ice cream and delivered pizza were major tools which aided in the timely development of this program.
SECTION 6
INDEX
The index refers to section numbers, not page numbers.
Section Topic
1-1 Installation
1-2 System Requirements
1-3 Printing out the manual
2-0 Detailed operating instructions begin
2-1 Start up and main menu- keyboard users
2-2 Information for mouse users
2-3 Selecting from the main menu options
2-4 DOS Shell
2-5 The Navigator
2-6 Statutes menu
2-7 Printing out documents
2-8 File exporting
2-9 Browsing through statutes
2-10 Exiting statutes
2-11 TUTORIALS MENU
2-12 Selecting a tutorial
2-13 Opening a second menu
2-14 DRAFTING DOCUMENTS (USING THE DOCUMENT GENERATOR)
(.txt)