I can't speak to what might happen if/when Doc dies, but I suspect that if Milch were to have him die it'd be with more fanfare than just saying he passed away in the interim between Season 3 and the movie.
I believe that Doc was at least partly based on Milch's own father, a troubled but brilliant surgeon whom Milch had very complicated feelings about but ultimately loves deeply. I think this bears itself out in the character of Doc -- like Elmer Milch, an alcoholic with a hell of a temper at times: perhaps not a saint, but at heart a compassionate and decent man. So I'd imagine that Milch would lend a lot of screen-time to Doc's actual death, and perhaps intended to do so in the fourth season.
Depending on how much time the movie will say elapsed since Season 3, it's possible Doc could still be alive, on death's door, and his passing could even be a big part of the narrative thrust of the thing.
I don't know -- Doc was such an integral part of the town and the series. He was, in a way, like the heart of the show. It's difficult to imagine him dying and the show going on without him, so I'd imagine this would occur near the end of the movie (or season if that had come to pass).
Of course this is all hoping a movie will indeed happen, anyway. Fingers crossed...
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