Not entirely correct. It frequently happens in civil wrongful death lawsuits brought by the survivors of the dead person, or by the representative of the dead person’s estate, or the guardian for the minor dependent(s) of the dead person. Clearly, such deaths (traffic crashes, for example) occur without the dead person having filed or planned a lawsuit against the accused/responsible “killer.” Such lawsuits heavily focus on what the death “costs” the estate or the survivor in terms of lost income, companionship, parental guidance, etc. The definition of survivor depends on the state and the court, though. A spouse and minor children are definite and obvious, but a parent might not be able to sue for the loss of an adult child and recover money paid directly to the parents, but they might be able to sue and recover money to pay for hospital expenses before the death, college costs for minors, etc. Again, depends on the particular jurisdiction and court, and the facts of the case.
If plaintiff Peter has a claim against defendant Dan for, say libel, then P must file the claim before he dies in order for P's wife Wilma to inherit a right to P's claim.
But if P is killed negligently by D, then W does have a wrongful death claim against D. But it's her claim, not one she inherited from P.