I want research, too, but in lieu of that, I second "lots of reports". Also, consider this reality:

Imagine you tell someone that you're thinking about killing yourself. Say this person decided to call 911, and you end up admitted into the mental ward of a hospital.

Unless you have very good insurance (or something has changed), they're likely to let you out in a week. I've heard of this happening to countless people. It is simply too expensive to keep them in there very long.

So, a week later, you've:

• Missed a week worth of pay (from work).
• Racked up tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills (most likely your insurance won't pay for it all.)
• Missed a week of work. Some workplaces will find a reason to fire you after that. (Not all managers care that this is illegal.)
• You had to live in a place full of crazy people every day for a week.
• You had to sleep in a place full of crazy people, perhaps sharing a room with one, every night, for a week.
• You've been treated like a crazy person for a week. (Barely allowed any possessions, unable to go anywhere, living apart from friends and family, having your life scheduled by the staff, etc.)
• Your new prescription may not even kick in for several weeks!

Is your situation and mood:

A. Better

B. Worse

The last suicidal person I called 911 for was not provided any services, but was charged hundreds of dollars. Apparently, they stopped by, asked him a pile of questions, he managed to avoid being taken to the mental ward, and then they charged him out the ears for the visit.

He was quite upset with me. Quite. Moral of that story: Don't IM about suicidal thoughts while the internet connection is flaking out and then say something like "I can't go on" and then also fail to answer the now very concerned friend's phone call right after.

It's enough to make me think that someone should do a study to determine whether fatalities might increase after a visit to a mental hospital.

And as for the suicide hotlines - a lot of the operators are volunteers. I wouldn't be surprised if the number of operators who are volunteers is like 90%+. I'm sure you have to be pretty special to be a suicide hotline volunteer (nerves of steel + screening) but I doubt that most of the operators are psychologists. This could probably be verified if you were willing to look up the largest suicide hotlines and see how they source their operators. For now, a quick example of operator sourcing:

Crisis Clinic Volunteering Page:

"Crisis Line phone workers come from all walks of life and educational backgrounds." (All educational backgrounds means lots of people who are not licensed psychologists).

http://crisisclinic.org/get-involved/volunteer/#24hour