BELL, Judge.

This appeal arises from a medical malpractice action filed in the Health Claims Arbitration Office ("HCAO"). See Maryland Code (1973, 1995 Repl. Vol. Cum. Supp.), §§ 3-2A-01 et seq. of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article ("the Health Care Malpractice Claims Act" or "the Act"). The issue we must decide is whether the petitioners, Kenneth M. Goodwich, M.D. and Kenneth M. Goodwich, M.D., P.A. (hereinafter "the petitioners" or "Dr. Goodwich"), properly instituted a mandamus action in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to obtain judicial review of a HCAO discovery order compelling deposition testimony concerning the findings and recommendations of a medical review committee. The circuit court denied the petitioners' request for mandamus relief. On appeal, the Court of Special Appeals affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. Goodwich v. Nolan (" Goodwich I"), 102 Md. App. 499, 650 A.2d 296 (1994). At the petitioners' request, we issued the writ of certiorari and now affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

I.

The medical malpractice action out of which this case arose was initiated by Sharon Brooks, individually and as parent, guardian, and next friend of her son, Jamaal Brooks, in the Health Claims Arbitration Office, against Dr. Goodwich, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc. ("Sinai Hospital"), Health Care Corporation of the Mid-Atlantic ("Carefirst"), and Potomac Physicians, P.A. ("Potomac") for alleged negligent surgical and obstetrical care resulting in Jamaal's birth, in December 1988, with severe brain damage. In addition to claims of primary medical negligence against Dr. Goodwich, vicariously imputed to the other health care providers, Ms. Brooks also brought claims of corporate liability against Sinai Hospital, Carefirst and Potomac based on theories of negligent supervision and credentialing. Paul W. Nolan, Esquire, the respondent ("the panel chair"), the chair of the arbitration panel assigned to the case, later bifurcated the latter claims.

While in the discovery phase of the HCAO proceeding, Ms. Brooks deposed Dr. Goodwich and two former Sinai Hospital employees, Rebecca Brown, R.N., and Dr. Mary Anne Lathrop, both of whom had been involved in Ms. Brooks's care. During Dr. Goodwich's deposition, Ms. Brooks's attorney asked a series of questions regarding alleged disciplinary restrictions imposed on Dr. Goodwich's staff privileges at Sinai Hospital, including, inter alia, whether he was "required at Sinai Hospital to obtain second opinions for patients," whether his medical license ever had been suspended, revoked or curtailed, in any way, while Ms. Brooks was his patient, and whether he ever had been discharged from Sinai's HMO. Ms. Brooks's attorney also questioned Dr. Goodwich about alleged communication problems with other patients.

Dr. Goodwich refused to answer this line of questioning, contending that it infringed upon the protections of the medical peer review privilege as set forth in Maryland Code (1981, 1994 Repl. Vol, 1995 Cum. Supp.), § 14-501(d) of the Health Occupations Article. That section provides, in pertinent part:

[T]he proceedings, records, and files of a medical review committee are not discoverable and are not admissible in evidence in any civil action arising out of matters that are being reviewed and evaluated by the medical review committee.

Ms. Brooks's attorney asked Ms. Brown and Dr. Lathrop similar questions in their subsequent depositions. They were asked whether they knew if Dr. Goodwich's privileges had been suspended or curtailed, in any way, while he was caring for Ms. Brooks, and whether they knew if Dr. Goodwich had been required to obtain second opinions. Like Dr. Goodwich's attorney, and for the same reason, the attorney for Sinai Hospital instructed Ms. Brown and Dr. Lathrop not to answer the questions.

Dr. Goodwich and Sinai Hospital having raised claims of privilege, Ms. Brooks's attorney filed a motion with the panel chair to compel the deponents to answer the questions. After reviewing the briefs submitted by Ms. Brooks and Dr. Goodwich, the panel chair, in an order issued on June 22, 1993, granted Ms. Brooks's motion. The order stated the basis for his decision, namely his belief, given the authorities submitted, that the information Ms. Brooks sought did not constitute the "'proceedings, records, and files of a medical review committee[,]'" (quoting § 14-501(d)(1)). The panel chair concluded, therefore, that § 14-501(d)(1) did not preclude discovery of the information. While noting that there were no Maryland appellate cases directly addressing the issue, the panel chair, nevertheless, was persuaded by the analysis adopted by the Supreme Court of Rhode Island in Moretti v. Lowe, 592 A.2d 855 (R.I. 1991). Moreover, he stressed that while he found the requested information discoverable, he was not ruling, nor did he intend to imply, that the information would be admissible at a hearing on the merits.

Dr. Goodwich filed a motion for reconsideration of the panel chair's discovery order. The motion was denied. Meanwhile, Ms. Brooks having filed another motion to compel him to appear for a supplemental deposition, Dr. Goodwich filed a motion for a protective order asking the panel chair to stay all discovery while he pursued mandamus relief in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The panel chair granted the motion and ordered all discovery stayed for 60 days to allow Dr. Goodwich to seek mandamus relief.

Thereafter, Dr. Goodwich filed, in the circuit court, a Verified Complaint Seeking Writ of Mandamus, naming the panel chair and the HCAO, through its director, Walter R. Tabler, as defendants. In that complaint, he sought to have the court prevent the panel chair and/or the HCAO from "compelling production of statutorily privileged medical peer review information in violation of Maryland law." The panel chair and Mr. Tabler filed a motion to dismiss Dr. Goodwich's mandamus action, arguing that mandamus will not lie when a fully adequate statutory remedy is available after the HCAO makes a final award, that Dr. Goodwich's complaint was interlocutory, and that mandamus relief is inappropriate to direct a party to exercise judgment that is discretionary. The circuit court granted the motion, adopting as the reasons for the dismissal, those enumerated in the defendants' motion to dismiss.

Following the circuit court's dismissal of his complaint, Dr. Goodwich appealed to the Court of Special Appeals. That court, as previously noted, affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. Goodwich v. Nolan, supra, 102 Md. App. at 514, 650 A.2d at 303. In explaining the basis for its decision, the Court of Special Appeals's opinion emphasized the discretionary nature of the panel chair's order, which, it concluded, made mandamus relief inappropriate. The intermediate appellate court also noted that judicial review of HCAO orders after issuance of a final award provided Dr. Goodwich with an adequate remedy. Id. at 507-09, 650 A.2d at 299-301. Finally, the court was satisfied that Dr. Goodwich had other measures available during HCAO discovery, including the use of a protective order, to prevent disclosure of peer review information. As a further basis for rejecting mandamus, the court noted that the panel chair's discovery order was not immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine, id. at 510-12, 650 A.2d at 301-02, and that the writ of mandamus did not meet the prerequisites of that doctrine. As previously noted, we granted Dr. Goodwich's petition for writ of certiorari to consider the important issues raised in this case.

II. A.

Dr. Goodwich asserts that the test for assessing the propriety of issuing a writ of mandamus during an ongoing HCAO proceeding is "'where there is no other available procedure for obtaining review, or where the action complained of is arbitrary and capricious[,]'" (quoting Goodwich I, supra, 102 Md. App. at 506, 650 A.2d at 299, quoting, in turn, Weidig v. Tabler, 81 Md. App. 488, 491, 568 A.2d 868, 870 (1990), cert. granted sub nom. Kies v. Tabler, 319 Md. 632, 574 A.2d 312, vacated as moot, 321 Md. 1, 580 A.2d 701 (1990)). He further asserts that the Court of Special Appeals has misapplied the test in this case. Specifically, he contends that the intermediate appellate court erred in concluding that "[a] party aggrieved by a decision of the HCAO may seek review in the circuit court only after the HCAO has issued a final award[,]" id. at 509, 650 A.2d at 301, and in holding that the post-arbitration procedure for vacating an HCAO arbitration award under § 3-2A-06 of the Act provides an adequate remedy in this case. Id. Dr. Goodwich also contends that the Court of Special Appeals erred in concluding that procedural protections, such as a protective order limiting Ms. Brooks's use of the discovered peer review information, or alternatively, placing that information under seal to preserve its confidentiality during the pendency of the HCAO proceeding, provide him sufficient protection.

[1-6] In Dr. Goodwich's view, vacating an ultimate HCAO award would fail to protect privileged peer review information from initial disclosure during discovery. Thus, he claims that once privileged information is produced in discovery, its confidentiality is forever compromised, rendering any post-arbitration motion to vacate the award insufficient to redress the wrong. Furthermore, he claims that the use of a protective or seal order would, at best, limit the degree to which peer review confidentiality would be compromised, but would not prohibit the disclosure of the confidential information to Ms. Brooks, or its subsequent review and use by her to pursue her claims. For these reasons, Dr. Goodwich contends that mandamus is the only adequate procedural vehicle available to him by which to obtain effective judicial review of the disputed discovery order. Moreover, he asserts that the circuit court's exercise of mandamus jurisdiction during an HCAO proceeding is consistent with Maryland's application of the collateral order doctrine.

Alternatively, Dr. Goodwich argues that, even if this Court were to conclude that he has an adequate remedy other than mandamus, such as judicial review of the HCAO award, it still must review the panel chair's decision for the presence of "'arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable or illegal actions taken by the [sic] inferior tribunal[,]'" (quoting Dorchester General Hospital v. Sober, 79 Md. App. 110, 115, 555 A.2d 1074, 1077 (1989)). Accordingly, he contends that the panel chair acted arbitrarily, in dereliction of his duties under the Act, as reflected by his misapplication and misinterpretation of § 14-501(d)(1) as not embracing the ultimate findings and recommendations of the medical review committee. He claims that the Moretti decision, upon which the panel chair relied in ordering the disclosure, did not provide a proper basis upon which to interpret Maryland's peer review privilege. Instead, he focuses on this Court's construction of the privilege in Baltimore Sun v. University of Maryland Medical System, 321 Md. 659, 584 A.2d 683 (1991). In that case, we stated that the statute is premised on a "legislative appreciation that a high level of confidentiality is necessary for effective medical peer review[,]" id. at 668, 584 A.2d at 687, and that § 14-501(d) provides an "all encompassing" peer review privilege. Id. at 670, 584 A.2d at 688 (Rodowsky, J. concurring).

B.

Ms. Brooks sees matters quite differently. Her opinion, as was the Court of Special Appeals's, is that judicial review is available to Dr. Goodwich only upon the completion of the HCAO arbitration proceeding. At that time, she submits, he could seek to have the arbitration award vacated. She further echoes the intermediate appellate court's view of the matter by arguing that Dr. Goodwich could have sought a protective order to safeguard what he deemed to be confidential information. She also asserts that mandamus is not justified in this case under the collateral order doctrine because, inter alia, the discovery order did not conclusively resolve any aspect of the arbitration proceeding and because the order is not distinct from the merits of the case.

In this case, Ms. Brooks asserts, the underlying discovery decision involved an exercise of discretion; the panel chair was required first to decide whether to compel discovery, see Maryland Rule 2-432, and upon deciding to compel discovery, to choose the appropriate sanction, in the event of non-compliance. See Maryland Rule 2-433. For this reason, then, she contends that mandamus does not lie. Also, Ms. Brooks rejects Dr. Goodwich's claim that the panel chair acted arbitrarily. On the contrary, she says that he exercised appropriate judgment and discretion in concluding that the information she sought did not constitute the "proceedings, records and files of a medical review committee." She thus argues that, rather than to shield the subject(s) of peer review discussions, Maryland's peer review statute, like that of many other states, was designed to provide immunity from liability for those person who give information to, participate in, or contribute to the functioning of a medical review committee.

III. A.

[7-10] We begin our analysis in this case with a brief review of the common law writ of mandamus. "Mandamus is an original action, as distinguished from an appeal." 52 Am. Jur. 2d Mandamus § 4 (1970) (footnote omitted). It is "not a substitute for appeal or writ of error." In re Petition for Writ of Prohibition, 312 Md. 280, 306, 539 A.2d 664, 676 (1988). It is, however, "an extraordinary remedy[,]" Ipes v. Board of Fire Commissioners of Baltimore, 224 Md. 180, 183, 167 A.2d 337, 339 (1961), "that . . . will not lie if [there is] any other adequate and convenient remedy[.]" A.S. Abell Co. v. Sweeney, 274 Md. 715, 718, 337 A.2d 77, 79 (1975) (quoting Applestein v. Baltimore, 156 Md. 40, 45, 143 A. 666, 668 (1928)). Mandamus is generally used "to compel inferior tribunals, public officials or administrative agencies to perform their function, or perform some particular duty imposed upon them which in its nature is imperative and to the performance of which duty the party applying for the writ has a clear legal right." Criminal Injuries Compensation Board v. Gould, 273 Md. 486, 514, 331 A.2d 55, 72 (1975); see also George's Creek Coal Iron Co. v. County Commissioners, 59 Md. 255, 259 (1883). The writ ordinarily does not lie where the action to be reviewed is discretionary or depends on personal judgment. Board of Education of Prince George's County v. Secretary of Personnel, 317 Md. 34, 46, 562 A.2d 700, 706 (1989); In re Petition, supra, 312 Md. at 305-06, 539 A.2d at 676; see also Tabler v. Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society, 301 Md. 189, 202 n. 7, 482 A.2d 873, 880 n. 7 (1984); Bovey v. Executive Director, HCAO, 292 Md. 640, 646, 441 A.2d 333, 337 (1982); Maryland Action for Foster Children v. State, 279 Md. 133, 138-39, 367 A.2d 491, 494 (1977);

In its opinion, the Court of Special Appeals states that "[m]andamus is . . . reserved only for those instances 'where there is no other available procedure for obtaining review, or where the action complained of is arbitrary and capricious.'" Goodwich I, supra, 102 Md. App. at 506, 650 A.2d at 299 (quoting Weidig, supra, 81 Md. App. at 491, 568 A.2d at 870) (emphasis added); see also Dorchester General Hospital, supra, 79 Md. App. at 115, 555 A.2d at 1076-77. As we have seen, it is this statement of the test of the availability of mandamus that provides the very foundation on which Dr. Goodwich's claim is built. It does not, however, comport with our mandamus jurisprudence.

[11, 12] This Court has stated that judicial review is properly sought through a writ of mandamus "where there [is] no statutory provision for hearing or review and where public officials [are] alleged to have abused the discretionary powers reposed in them." State Department of Health v. Walker, 238 Md. 512, 522-23, 209 A.2d 555, 561 (1965) (emphasis added). See also State Department of Assessments and Taxation v. Clark, 281 Md. 385, 399, 380 A.2d 28, 36-37 (1977); Gould, supra, 273 Md. at 502, 331 A.2d at 65; State Insurance Commissioner v. National Bureau of Casualty Underwriters, 248 Md. 292, 300, 236 A.2d 282, 286 (1967); Heaps v. Cobb, 185 Md. 372, 380, 45 A.2d 73, 76 (1945). Thus, prior to granting a writ of mandamus to review discretionary acts, there must be both a lack of an available procedure for obtaining review and an allegation that the action complained of is illegal, arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable. Were it as the Court of Special Appeals has held and Dr. Goodwich argues, one conceivably could obtain a writ of mandamus simply by alleging arbitrary and capricious action. Obtaining mandamus with such ease, however, does not promote judicial efficiency and does not comport with the status of the writ of mandamus as an extraordinary writ. Nor is that what our cases say or intend. E.g., Doering v. Fader, 316 Md. 351, 361, 558 A.2d 733, 738 (1989) ("We have acknowledged that the power to issue an extraordinary writ of mandamus is one which ought to be exercised with great caution."); In re Petition, supra, 312 Md. at 305, 539 A.2d at 676 (same); see also Keene Corporation v. Levin, 330 Md. 287, 294, 623 A.2d 662, 665 (1993).

Our mandamus jurisprudence is illustrated both by those cases in which we have granted the writ, as well as those in which we have refused to issue it. For example, in Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission v. Rosenberg, 269 Md. 520, 307 A.2d 704 (1973), we held that mandamus relief was appropriate because there was no statutory provision for judicial review and because the Planning Commission acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing to approve a plan for the subdivision of a piece of property. Id. at 529-31, 307 A.2d at 708-10. In Walker, supra, mandamus was granted in the absence of provision for hearing or review and where the issuance of sewage disposal permits was arbitrarily denied. 238 Md. at 522-23, 209 A.2d at 561. In Heaps, supra, again we found mandamus relief warranted in the absence of provision for judicial review and where the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System arbitrarily denied a pension claim by a member's widow. 185 Md. at 379-86, 45 A.2d at 76-79.

In Bovey, supra, the petitioners sought a writ of mandamus to compel the Director of the HCAO to inquire of potential arbitration panelists whether they had an economic relationship with the health care providers whose cases they would be deciding. We denied relief on the basis that the Director was free to exercise discretion in assuring the impartiality of panelists; therefore, mandamus would not lie to compel him to follow a specific procedure. 292 Md. at 649, 441 A.2d at 338. We also stated that judicial review existed to correct any such errors on the Director's part. Id. In Stark v. State Board of Registration, 179 Md. 276, 19 A.2d 716 (1941), we refused to grant mandamus relief to a petitioner who sought to compel the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to issue a license to him, because the record contained no evidence that the Board failed to act or acted arbitrarily and, more importantly, because he failed to exhaust his statutory right of review. Id. at 283-85, 19 A.2d at 719-20.

B.

[13-15] Having thus articulated the appropriate rule of law, we proceed to the substance of Dr. Goodwich's claims. Because Dr. Goodwich's refusal to comply with the panel chair's discovery ruling rests on a claim of privilege, he contends that mandamus provides him the only available procedural avenue for effective judicial review of the order. We disagree. To be sure, as we have seen, courts have the right to review the discretionary decisions reached in quasi-judicial proceedings for arbitrariness, illegality or capriciousness. Maryland Aggregates Association v. State, 337 Md. 658, 678, 655 A.2d 886, 896 (1995); Baltimore Import Car Service and Storage v. Maryland Port Authority, 258 Md. 335, 342, 265 A.2d 866, 869 (1970); State Insurance Commissioner, supra, 248 Md. at 300, 236 A.2d at 286; Heaps, supra, 185 Md. at 379, 45 A.2d at 76; Hecht v. Crook, 184 Md. 271, 280, 40 A.2d 673, 677 (1945). They also have the inherent power to correct any such abuses of authority "through the writ of mandamus, by injunction or otherwise[.]" Id. at 280, 40 A.2d at 677. Yet, there is no occasion to utilize the writ, thus it does not apply, where a statutory right of judicial review exists. See, e.g., Gould, supra, 273 Md. at 503, 331 A.2d at 66; Rosenberg, supra, 269 Md. at 529, 307 A.2d at 708-09; Walker, supra, 238 Md. at 522-23, 209 A.2d at 561. The mere fact that a claim of privilege is raised in a mandamus petition does not change the analysis.

[16] In the instant case, the Act represents a comprehensive statutory scheme, adopted by the General Assembly in 1976 as part of Maryland's response to the medical malpractice insurance crisis. Tabler, supra, 301 Md. at 192, 482 A.2d at 875, Bovey, supra, 292 Md. at 641, 441 A.2d at 334; Attorney General v. Johnson, 282 Md. 274, 277, 385 A.2d 57, 59, appeal dismissed, 439 U.S. 805, 99 S.Ct. 60, 58 L.Ed.2d 97 (1978), disapproved on other grounds, Newell v. Richards, 323 Md. 717, 734, 594 A.2d 1152, 1161 (1991). See ch. 235, Acts of 1976. While it provides for the submission of certain medical malpractice claims to arbitration, it also provides for judicial review of final HCAO decisions. Johnson, supra, 282 Md. at 280 287, 385 A.2d at 60-61 65. Moreover, in fashioning the statutory scheme, the Legislature directed, in the Act, that the attorney member of the three-person arbitration panel serve as "panel chair," in whom was vested the power to decide "all prehearing procedures including issues relating to discovery. . . ." § 3-2A-05(c), Cts. Jud. Proc. (1995 Repl. Vol. Cum. Supp.).

Therefore, it is foreseeable that, in the course of resolving discovery disputes, panel chairs will be called upon to consider, and settle, matters involving privileges. Thus, the Legislature's decision to prescribe, as part of the statutory scheme, that judicial review occur after a final HCAO decision is reached evinces, as the Court of Special Appeals observed, see Goodwich I, supra, 102 Md. App. at 507, 650 A.2d at 300, a legislative intent to prevent interruption of ongoing HCAO proceedings. See also Dorchester General Hospital, supra, 79 Md. App. at 118, 555 A.2d at 1078. Accordingly, because the General Assembly has empowered the panel chair with the authority to resolve discovery disputes, it would be improper for us to grant mandamus relief until such time as it amends the statutory scheme. To issue the writ of mandamus in the instant case, under the present statutory scheme, would permit not only the interruption of HCAO proceedings whenever a panel chair makes a controversial discovery ruling, but also would erode substantially the very authority vested in the panel chair.

[17, 18] Requiring that HCAO proceedings be final before a party to them may obtain judicial review is likewise consonant with the exhaustion of administrative remedies doctrine, which states that, with rare exceptions, one cannot seek judicial review until a final administrative decision is reached. See, e.g., Montgomery County v. Ward, 331 Md. 521, 526-27, 629 A.2d 619, 621-22 (1993); Holiday Spas v. Montgomery County, 315 Md. 390, 395, 554 A.2d 1197, 1199 (1989); Oxtoby v. McGowan, 294 Md. 83, 91, 447 A.2d 860, 865 (1982); see also Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission v. Crawford, 307 Md. 1, 12-17, 511 A.2d 1079, 1084-87 (1986) (discussing exhaustion of administrative remedies in the civil rights context); Maryland Commission on Human Relations v. Mass. Transit Administration, 294 Md. 225, 235, 449 A.2d 385, 390 (1982). Although an HCAO arbitration panel is not "an administrative agency in the traditional sense[,]" Johnson, supra, 282 Md. at 285, 385 A.2d at 63, it clearly operates in a quasi-judicial capacity such that we find administrative law principles sufficiently analogous to apply them here. See Oxtoby, 294 Md. at 91, 447 A.2d at 865 ("[T]he legislative mandate that the arbitration procedure under the [Health Care Malpractice Claims] Act be followed as a precondition to invoking the general jurisdiction of a court is analogous to the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies."). In sum, because statutory review is available under the Act, we conclude that mandamus is not warranted in this case. In so holding, we are not, as Dr. Goodwich claims, denying him access to the judiciary. We simply are requiring that he wait until the appropriate time to obtain the judicial review to which he is entitled.

Having already determined it to be ill-founded, we need not further address Dr. Goodwich's argument that even if we find that he has an adequate statutory remedy, we must still review the panel chair's discovery ruling for the presence of arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable action. We also decline, as did the Court of Special Appeals, to address the substantive issue of whether the ultimate findings and conclusions of a medical review committee are privileged under § 14-501(d)(1). Goodwich I, supra, 102 Md. App. at 510 n. 8, 650 A.2d at 301 n. 8. [19] Like the Court of Special Appeals, we believe that Dr. Goodwich had other options open to him, short of mandamus, to protect what he believed to be privileged peer review information. Specifically, he could have sought a protective order requesting that certain matters not be inquired into, or limiting who had access to the information, or requesting that the scope of discovery be limited. See Maryland Rule 2-403. That rule is applicable in health claims arbitration proceedings pursuant to § 3-2A-05(b)(2) of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article. It states, in part, "[e]xcept for the provisions of the Maryland Rules relating to time for the completion of discovery, the provisions of the Maryland Rules relating to discovery are applicable to proceedings under this subtitle." In addition, he also could have asked the court to place the depositions under seal pursuant to § 2-403(a)(7).

C.

Although we have concluded that mandamus relief is inappropriate in this case, we pause momentarily to address the issue of the applicability of the collateral order doctrine to the writ of mandamus. The Court of Special Appeals apparently assumes that, to qualify for judicial review in the circuit court, Dr. Goodwich's mandamus petition must have satisfied the requirements of the collateral order doctrine. See Goodwich, supra, 102 Md. App. at 511, 650 A.2d at 302. For a delineation of those requirements, see note 8 supra. It is clear, however, that the petition need not have met the requirements of the collateral order doctrine. In fact, it is crystalline that this simply is not a collateral order doctrine case.

[20] The collateral order doctrine was first recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-47, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 1225-26, 93 L.Ed. 1528, 1536-37 (1949), and subsequently adopted by this Court. See, e.g., Montgomery County v. Stevens, 337 Md. 471, 477, 654 A.2d 877, 880 (1995); Town of Chesapeake Beach v. Pessoa, 330 Md. 744, 754-55, 625 A.2d 1014, 1019 (1993); Department of Social Services v. Stein, 328 Md. 1, 10, 612 A.2d 880, 884 (1992); Harris v. Harris, 310 Md. 310, 315, 529 A.2d 356, 358 (1987); Public Service Commission v. Patuxent Valley, 300 Md. 200, 206, 477 A.2d 759, 762 (1984); Kawamura v. State, 299 Md. 276, 282 n. 5, 473 A.2d 438, 442 n. 5 (1984). It applies to a "narrow class of orders, referred to as collateral orders, which are offshoots of the principal litigation in which they are issued and which are immediately appealable as 'final judgments' without regard to the posture of the case." Montgomery County, supra, 337 Md. at 477, 654 A.2d at 880 (quoting Harris, supra, 310 Md. at 315, 529 A.2d at 358). [21, 22] The collateral order doctrine permits the prosecution of an appeal from certain interlocutory orders. Mandamus, on the other hand, as we stated earlier, is not a vehicle for prosecuting an appeal. While it involves judicial review of orders passed by courts and administrative agencies and the actions of public officials, see Gould, supra, 273 Md. at 500-04, 331 A.2d at 65-67, issuance of the writ of mandamus does not depend upon qualifying under the collateral order doctrine even when, as here, the order sought to be reviewed is an interlocutory administrative discovery order. Rather the propriety of the writ is determined solely on the basis of the nature of the action reviewed as well as the existence, or not, of an alternative method of review. The reviewability of the issuance or denial of the writ of mandamus is not dependent on the collateral order doctrine.

[23] Although the purpose of the mandamus action was to review the panel chair's discovery decision, the appellant initiated a separate and independent mandamus action in the circuit court. That action was fully decided in that court. And because, with respect to the propriety of the issuance of the writ of mandamus, it settled, determined, and concluded the rights of the parties involved in that action, thus terminating the cause of action, Estep v. Georgetown Leather, 320 Md. 277, 282, 577 A.2d 78, 80-81 (1990); Wilde v. Swanson, 314 Md. 80, 84, 548 A.2d 837, 839 (1988); Houghton v. County Commissioners, 305 Md. 407, 412, 504 A.2d 1145, 1148, on reconsideration, 307 Md. 216, 513 A.2d 291 (1986); Sigma Repro. Health Center v. State, 297 Md. 660, 665, 467 A.2d 483, 485 (1983); Highfield Water Company v. Washington County Sanitary District, 295 Md. 410, 415, 456 A.2d 371, 373 (1983); In re Buckler Trusts, 144 Md. 424, 427, 125 A. 177, 178 (1924), it is final and appealable in its own right. See Unnamed Attorney v. Attorney Grievance Commission, 303 Md. 473, 480, 494 A.2d 940, 944 (1985); In re Special Investigation No. 244, 296 Md. 80, 85, 459 A.2d 1111, 1113 (1983); In re Special Investigation No. 231, 295 Md. 366, 370, 455 A.2d 442, 444 (1983).

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED, WITH COSTS.